


Living Things

by IohannaFacTotum, merkase



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Eventual Romance, Frottage, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Intrigue, M/M, Mentioned Hange Zoe/Moblit, Mentioned Jean Kirstein/Eren Yeager, Mentioned Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein - Freeform, Mentioned Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein/Eren Yeager, Mentioned Mike Zacharias/Nanaba, Mentioned Ymir/Krista - Freeform, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Hange Zoë, Porn With Plot, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Survival Horror, Suspense, Thug Levi, Zombies, nonbinary nanaba
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-03-19 04:03:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 108,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3595626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IohannaFacTotum/pseuds/IohannaFacTotum, https://archiveofourown.org/users/merkase/pseuds/merkase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A U.S. Special Forces company led by Commander Erwin Smith is deployed for a high-priority evacuation in Ontario, Canada. Navigating two countries and their undead citizens is difficult enough, but the hitchhiker they pick up along the way could pose a much more immediate threat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Extraction

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a multimedia project! Illustrations, comics, and drabbles to accompany the fic can all be found [here!](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com)

_Ontario, Canada_

 

The company had not been prepared, equipment-wise, for a vertical extraction. They’d been mobilized quickly, supplies thrown together from a basic list that had either not included climbing equipment or been half-read by someone in a great hurry. It had been a call from someone claiming to be a lab assistant from the World Health Organization--something you didn’t overlook in the darkest hour of a pathogenic outbreak even if the man on the other end of the line hadn’t dropped some very heavy names.

The caller said that the owners of those names were all barricaded in a hotel that, to his knowledge, had no infected victims inside. But two weeks was more than enough time for someone to fuck up.

“I’m getting heat signatures from every floor, Commander,” Mikasa reported grimly from her position on the roof of vehicle three. They were lined up on the far side of the street, four humvees idling in a row like heavily armed ducklings. “They’re not putting off enough heat to be living humans.”

“How many signatures?” Erwin asked. They had a thermal imaging camera in humvee one as well, but they were using them one at a time on rotation to maximize their battery life and Erwin was keeping an eye on the road ahead of them as well as the hotel across the street.

“Fifty to a hundred on most floors,” Mikasa reported. “More on the first floor. It’s difficult to count them.”

“Have you spotted anything living?” Erwin asked.

There was a pause, presumably while Mikasa scanned the floors more closely. Then, “Negative, but we would have to circle the building to be sure.”

“Turn the camera off until we stop again.” Erwin ducked back into the vehicle and motioned to Mike to start driving. “Slowly,” he said. “We have several hours until sunset.”

The atmosphere in humvee one darkened by degrees as, one by one, they checked each side of the building, making a full circuit of the block and turning up nothing more promising than a good deal of exceedingly active dead folks.

“Drive around one or two more times,” Erwin instructed. “Then we’ll have to regroup.” He was not willing to send anyone in there, not even a small team, on the off-chance that someone was still alive. The risks were too great in the face of such a significant unknown no matter how far they had come.

“This has been happening too often,” Nanaba said, climbing out of the back to settle between Mike and Erwin with their rifle ready. “Overland travel just isn’t practical anymore. Not when situations can change this quickly. We’re wasting all our resources on hopeless missions.”

Nanaba was correct, of course. Erwin had made several successful extractions in the beginning before the situation tipped in favor of the dead, when the living were still scattered among them in equal number, still fighting. By the look of things when they passed through Connecticut and New York, there hadn’t been any fighting on the east coast for a long time.

“This will likely be one of our last,” Erwin told them. “At least this far inland and in this manner.” There had been talk of following railway lines as far as they could, eliminating the amount of time they spent towing stalled vehicles out of their way, but the routes were haphazard and the tracks didn’t always lay over flat, dry land. Obtaining an actual train was an option, but that presented its own unique set of challenges.

“Wait, hold this position,” Erwin said suddenly, his thought processes halting with the sudden shock of hopeful anticipation. Mike pulled to a stop, staring at Erwin quizzically.

The commander stood up again, skirting around Nanaba and putting his head back through the open hatch on the humvee’s roof, squinting at the sixth-storey window where he thought he’d seen some purposeful motion behind the gleaming reflection in the glass. “Mikasa,” he said. “Point your thermal camera at the sixth floor, closer to the right side of the building and tell me again what you see.” As he spoke, he counted windows quickly, arriving at the one he wanted and adding, “Eighth from the right.”

“What is it?” Nanaba asked impatiently from below, looking like they were a couple seconds away from standing up and joining Erwin on the roof.

“I’m not sure. It might be nothing.”

Nanaba frowned up at him, but Erwin didn’t see it. He was frozen in place, all of his attention focused intently on that one tiny window like a cat that had spotted a lizard.

“Commander--” But Mikasa didn’t get to finish her sentence. A heavy-looking wooden chair leg had just punched through the glass for all of them to see, raining twinkling shards onto the sidewalk below.

“It’s a living human,” Mikasa confirmed, her vocal pitch as even as it had ever been. She recovered quickly from things like this, and Erwin figured it had less to do with having seen a lot of strange shit and more in line with her prevailing personality. He appreciated that about her, whatever it was.

As they watched, the chair leg paused in its position in the window, then slowly withdrew, its wielder likely struggling with the weight. A hand shot out, using a three-ring binder to knock the jagged remnants of the window from its frame, then a head followed, hands resting on the sill so the figure could lean out and call to them in a vaguely German accent. “The windows here are remarkably shitty for such a high-end hotel. What use is a locking mechanism when you’ve painted the window shut anyhow?” The voice barely carried across the street, but it was discernable.

Erwin, who was also accustomed to some strange situations, barely blinked. “Are you alone?” he asked just as quietly.

“In this room, yes. Though I’m not sure about the rest of the building. Did you come in response to our distress call? I had no idea that Moblit had gotten through. Is he with you?”

Erwin hesitated, wondering if perhaps he should wait until later to get into this. “We went first to the coffee shop where the call originated,” Erwin said finally. “No one was there.” No one living, anyway. Erwin hadn’t known that the caller’s name had been Moblit, much less what he looked like. He may have been among them and he may not have been.

The doctor seemed to understand this perfectly well. “I see,” she said, almost too quietly to hear. She didn’t seem like she planned to say anything else about it, but then she spoke up again suddenly. “He was my lab assistant. There were a lot of us at the time and we needed more water than we had. He and a couple others thought they could make it down the street to the coffee shop and back if they hurried.” The doctor snorted. “I was hoping he’d just gotten hung up.”

“I’m sorry.”

The scientist waved it off. “Who did he call?” she asked, looking down at them curiously. “You look pretty legit.”

“My name is Commander Erwin Smith with Special Forces. United States,” he added when he realized that any number of militaries could want to rescue a handful of WHO scientists these days.

“There’s still a United States?” the young woman asked. “Well that’s a relief. I don’t think there’s a Canada anymore and somebody’s got to represent North America. From the sound of those first broadcasts, Mexico sure as hell isn’t going to be around to do it.”

Mexico City had been one of the first hot zones in North America, one of several epicenters that would follow. It happened so early and so quickly that firebombs were never dropped on the city to slow the spread. By the time the rest of North America found out about it, the infection had already spread wider than any weapon could reach.

“What’s your name?” Erwin asked.

“Oh, right. Sorry. I haven’t talked to another living person in two weeks so I was a little excited about it. Romeros are terrible conversationalists, aren’t they? That’s what I’ve been calling them. Romeros.” They laughed at their own joke. “I’m Doctor Hanji Zoe with The WHO.”

Erwin let out a harsh breath through his nose. They’d been given a prioritized list of names based on each scientist’s skill set in the event they had to make evacuation decisions based on professional value and Hanji’s name was right at the top. At the risk of counting unhatched chickens, at least their primary objective was safe and accounted for. “You don’t know what happened to the other doctors?” He asked.

“Yeah, of course I do. We were all in the same conference room, so I saw most of them get swarmed. I don’t know what happened to the rest. My guess is they were eaten.”

Erwin filed that away to revisit once Hanji was safely inside of their vehicle. “Are you secure in your current position? Have you been bitten?”

The doctor glanced back over her shoulder and shrugged. “The door is barricaded, but there wasn’t much to put in front of it that I could drag by myself. I also believe that the Romeros heard my attempts to get your attention, but I haven’t been bitten yet.”

Erwin mentally skimmed through their options, dismayed to find that they were few in number. They had rope, but no climbing gear, which Erwin would be addressing with all involved parties, including himself, if he made it to the debriefing. “Is there anything up there we could secure the end of a rope to?”

Hanji disappeared from the window for a long time, presumably studying the room. “Of all the rooms I chose to duck into, it had to be the break room,” they finally reported back. Though I guess I shouldn’t complain. The vending machine is probably the reason why I’m still alive. I might have lived without food for two weeks, but I’d have died of dehydration. Still, there’s nothing to tie off to. Maybe the faucet.”

“Is there anything else? The handle on a refrigerator door?”

“Ooh, good one,” Nanaba added unhelpfully. “Very creative, Commander.”

But Hanji was shaking her head. “It’s a mini-fridge.”

“What about the vending machine?”

“What part of the vending machine?” The doctor asked doubtfully.

“She could jump,” Nanaba suggested. “We have several tarps. We could do the fireman thing.”

Erwin had specifically not wanted to touch that option. He’d been looking for a way around it since they started going over potential places for a rope, but as his eyes flitting rapidly over their blueprint of the building he was gradually coming to the conclusion that Hanji Zoe was going to have to jump from a sixth storey window.

“Nanaba, come up here and cover the street ahead of us.” Erwin passed the other blonde as he swung back into the vehicle, reaching for the radio on their dashboard to contact the other humvees. “Sasha,” he radioed to humvee four. “Cover our rear. Auruo, Gunther, Eld, Mike, outside with me. Everyone else, hold.” Erwin cracked the humvee door open and moved closer so he could talk to Hanji in the meantime without speaking quite so loudly. In the strange, post-apocalyptic silence, their voices carried much farther now than they once had, but it was risky to raise them too high. His eyes slid back up the sheer brick wall, where Hanji had just swung one leg over the sill so she could sit while they got their shit together down below.

"How well is your barricade holding, doctor?" He called up.

Hanji made an indistinct sound and looked down at them without any immediate sign of panic on her face. Erwin hoped that continued. If so, this assignment was going to be exponentially easier for everyone. "It's holding for now,” she said. “If you take too much longer, though, I'll be jumping whether you're ready for me or not."

The doctor meant that too. The way her eyes measured the distance between the window and the ground said so. "Do you have anything to defend yourself with?" Erwin asked her.

"A specimen case. But I would jump before I hit anything with it."

Erwin's forehead crinkled at that, but he was a professional. He looked to Eld as he appeared at his shoulder and sighed, nodding slightly. "Get the tarp."

"Yes!" Nanaba hissed quietly from their lookout post. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” they said gleefully as the larger members of their company gathered beneath the window with one of their all-weather camouflage tarps and Mike chuckled somewhat darkly. “Well, I’m not doing this, but I fully intend to spare a glance in your direction when the doctor jumps.”

“Eyes on target,” Erwin reminded them, though it was unnecessary. When he looked back, Nanaba’s eye was dutifully pressed to the scope.

“Is she going to jump?” Eld asked, offering the tarp in his hands to Erwin. It seemed a lot more flimsy now that they planned to catch a living human in it. It was a lot like one of those egg-drop experiments that science classes and summer camps liked to do, except they hadn’t been provided with any bubble wrap.

“I prefer genderless pronouns, if you don’t mind,” Hanji called back down, apparently unconcerned with their current status as the egg in that egg-drop exercise. “Unless you think you can use both male and female pronouns with fairly even regularity. Most people can’t. Their natural tendency is to want to settle on one or the other--”

Hanji continued speaking, but Erwin was more concerned with the ravenous corpses banging down their door than he was with the detailed reasoning behind their choice of gender pronouns. That was roadtrip conversation, not something that needed to be hashed out in the middle of a problematic rescue attempt. The men gathering beneath the window didn’t even seem certain as to how taut they should be holding the tarp. Erwin didn’t say anything to the scientist about their priorities, though, figuring Hanji for a nervous talker. Or some kind of talker. They seemed a little bit thrilled with the entire situation, like it was all a rush, so perhaps it was excitement rather than nerves.

“It would be safer for you if you left the case,” Erwin told them as they pulled a large container from the floor and set it in their lap, swinging their other leg over in preparation to jump. It wasn’t a small item, and looked perfectly capable of doing serious damage if if hit Hanji in the head on the way down.

But the doctor shook their head, chestnut ponytail snapping against the sides of their head. “I would rather leave my legs,” they declared. “My only Romero specimens are in here. I managed to get some saliva from one of the other scientists both before and after they made the transformation. How often do you get that opportunity?”

Eld and Gunther glanced at each other subtly from opposite sides of the tarp, their eyebrows pinched together in the universal acknowledgement of another person’s strangeness.

“Hold the case as close to your chest as you can, then, and try to land on your back,” Erwin instructed as Hanji nodded, their eyes wide as they processed the information. The frenzied commotion going on just outside Hanji’s door was clearly audible, even from the ground below their window. It didn’t sound like that door would be holding for very much longer.

“I’ve got some dead-ass motherfuckers approaching from the front,” Nanaba announced over the radio rather than calling to them. “I repeat. Ten to a dozen dead-ass motherfuckers.”

“Hold your fire until you can’t put it off any longer,” Erwin sent back, feeling Auruo tighten his grip on the tarp beside him as he added, “Jump when you’re ready, doctor.”

He caught the look on Hanji’s face--sick and thrilled and eager and hesitant all at once, their arms wrapped tightly around their precious specimens as though they were the last important thing on Earth. They shot a look over their shoulder towards the break room door, shoving their glasses a little farther up their nose. Erwin had a couple of seconds to realize that he probably should have told them to take those glasses off and put them in their specimen case, but it was too late to say anything. Hanji had already jumped.

 

 


	2. Levi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter the hitchhiker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is a part of our [Attack on Zombie Project](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com). The tumblr has (and will have more of) the extras that we don't include in the fic, such as art, comics, drabbles, etc, so cOMe aNd JOIn uS, say hi, hang out. We love talking zombies and Eruri with folks.

 

Humvee one was quiet except for the small, apologetically careful sounds Mike made as he worked his way through lunch. Beside him in the passenger seat, Erwin was thinking, his eyes tracing the intricate network of highways laid out across the map in his lap. There was an orange highlighter in one hand, but he hadn’t used it in a while and he seemed to have forgotten that it was open. He’d forgotten about his own lunch as well--an MRE he hadn’t bothered to look at too closely before he reached in and grabbed it from their stock of rations.

It was Niagara or Buffalo--the nasty, perilous way they’d come or the potentially better, potentially worse unknown route through a major city.

“Buffalo's native population was larger, but Niagara was a tourist destination,” the commander mused aloud, maybe to himself or possibly to Mike and Nanaba. Hanji was not participating in the conversation, busying themselves instead with the important business of recovery sleep. They'd been up the previous night tracking Romero movements in the dark with Erwin's thermal camera--a gift that hadn't been given lightly, or quickly. Hanji had expounded upon the value of the data they could gather for quite a while before Erwin had surrendered the precious piece of equipment.

“If we didn’t have to cross the border ourselves I would stay as far away from both places as I could," Erwin admitted. It was rare for him to waste time talking about things that were beyond his control, but sleep deprivation was doing strange things to his mood. Or perhaps that was the season. He'd been on friendly terms with autumn before the Romeros, but this year he couldn't get the sense of dying things out of his head.

“Well,” Mike replied around a lump of what was supposed to be beef tips before swallowing, “tourist destination or not, I doubt there were many people on vacation when shit hit the fan. I know Niagara was crowded, but Buffalo is bound to be hellish.”

“Those Romeros we ran into weren't vacationers. In the end, Niagara became a place for the hopeless to gather.” Erwin looked up from the map then, turning a little to look at the doctor where they lay sacked out in the floorboard between the two back seats, their long limbs curled protectively around the kit that contained tissue and fluid samples. They slept so softly that Erwin and his officers could have been alone in the vehicle.

Nanaba twitched an eyebrow at Erwin, following his gaze to the floor. “If we go back through Niagara, I would like a postcard from the visitor center,” they told him dryly.

"You'll have to clear out the Romeros yourself," Erwin replied, remembering how packed it had been, Romeros crammed in elbow to elbow like a sardines in a tin. There had been so many around the Falls that the company hadn't even risked approaching, much less stopping for water.

If they went through Niagara again, they risked passing through the same clusterfuck that had greeted them on their way into Canada. But as a larger city, Buffalo could be much worse, and they would lose time towing stalled traffic from their path when the route from Niagara was already clear. Moreover, stalled traffic represented an opportunity for someone to get bitten while they were outside the safety of the humvee. Suddenly, Erwin seemed to remember the highlighter in his hand and he made a couple of small, slow circles in the corner of the map, coaxing the marker gently back to life with less than half his mind on the task.

Outside their grimy windows, the leaves were turning in bright, cadmium swathes of red and yellow--the precise color of hazmat suits and burning skylines. They would get to see quite the show on their way back to the coast, perhaps becoming some of the last to see one of those famous New England autumns. Erwin looked away.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” It was something he remembered from school.

“Frost, right?” Mike guessed conversationally as he set a pack of M&Ms on the dashboard to snack on later, the movement drawing Erwin out of his thoughts.

“I have no idea.” The M&Ms reminded Erwin of his own untouched food, though he was slow to reach for it. “It was just something that stuck.”

“I hated English,” Nanaba said. “The essays killed me.”

“It was all the reading, for me.” Mike sat back in his seat with a sigh and rested his hand on the gear shift. He turned to give Erwin a meaningful look. “I think you should go with the devil you know. At least the Niagara path is already cleared.”

“Of vehicles, anyway,” Nanaba added.

They hadn’t seen any large crowds in a while, only a small handful of wandering corpses scattered around their vehicles where they had stopped. Some Romeros in their vicinity had expressed a minor interest in the motion of the humvees but, finding nothing that seemed alive to them on the exterior, they were beginning to lose focus and drift away. According to the marks on Erwin’s map, this area had been heavily infested when the company came up this way, meaning that he could no longer trust the population notes he’d made. He looked at the one he’d written down for Niagara--a nine on a zero to ten scale--and tore open the thin wrapper on his MRE. “Go back through Niagara.”

“Roger that,” Mike replied before he took up the small dash radio. “Everyone scarf it down, we’re heading out. Backtracking through Niagara.” He cranked the monstrous vehicle and put it in gear, waiting for the sound of three more engines before he continued down the cleared highway.

“Maybe someday we’ll stop for a meal and make it through the whole thing before we start rolling again,” Nanaba quipped, pressing their foot into the center of Mike’s seat to nudge it forward.

“At least you can keep eating,” Mike grumbled.

“You haven’t figured out how to eat and drive at the same time yet? I could feed you if you like.”

Mike only rolled his eyes.

Without the added strain and danger of towing cars, the ride was almost peaceful. Partway through his MRE (also beef tips, though Erwin had pulled them out at random), Erwin looked over at Mike quickly as though something had occurred to him. “Have you ever been to New York? I’d been meaning to ask.”

Mike shrugged, though never took his eyes from the road. “Once, to visit family,” he replied with a sigh. “I was still a kid, so I don’t remember much of it. What about you, besides that time in the City?”

“No,” Erwin said. “I only went with the Guard.”

“You were deployed to New York?” Nanaba asked, leaning forward so they could get a better glimpse of Erwin’s face. “When was that?” New York had been wiped off the map early on, sanitized of all life--and afterlife--by a heavy barrage of missiles. That had been in the beginning when they still believed it could make a difference.

“I wasn’t there for the outbreak,” Erwin corrected them, though he could understand their mistake. “It was several years ago, for the firestorm.”

“Oh.” Nanaba slid back down in their seat again. “I’d forgotten all about the mafia thing. It seems like a lifetime ago I was watching that on the news.”

“Les Ailes weren’t mafia.”

Mike grunted in grim agreement.

"The two had a similar structure and similar influence as far as we could tell, but Les Ailes was at odds with the mafia in the end. The firestorm was believed to be Les Ailes' response to the mafia killing one of their officers."

"It doesn't really matter anymore, does it?" Nanaba asked.

After a moment, Erwin hummed his agreement. "The details don't."

"The structures likely fell apart anyways," Mike supplied. "I doubt we'll have to worry about them much." He didn't bother mentioning that their numbers would be significantly less threatening now except as far as their animated corpses could be.

It was all small-talk after that, with occasional interludes of seriousness when Erwin stopped them to discuss their route. The commander had his eye on the road signs, deciding when they would stop to wind things down for the night, when Mike reached over to get his attention, prodding him sharply and drawing Erwin’s attention to a stalled minivan just ahead of them and to the right.

Perhaps the sheer amount of blood and guts on his clothing was enough to convince roaming Romeros that the figure hopping out of the van was one of them, but the duffel bag on his shoulder was a dead giveaway to the living. The man was absolutely filthy, coated so liberally in gore and rotted clots of flesh that there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the mess had been intentional. With his face slathered over, he was small enough that he could have been a child, but shotgun slung across his back had them doubting. Perhaps a young teenager, then.

The figure froze when the humvee turned the curve and came into sight. He stood there in front of the empty van and watched them without moving as Mike slowed and finally, with something of a smirk on his face, he raised a hand and stuck out his thumb.

Nanaba leaned around the back of Mike’s seat and set their chin on the shoulder, eying his extended thumb with an odd expression on their face. “So, what do you think? Dangerous psychopath or _Walking Dead_ fan? I’m willing to put money down.”

“Why one or the other?” Mike asked. “He could be both.” He turned to Erwin and waited for some kind of instruction, but movement outside caught his eye. As they grew closer and the other humvees closed the distance behind them, the blood-covered man outside hesitated, lowering his thumb with a glower.

Erwin reached for the radio. “Auruo, cover the gentleman outside my window at one o’clock.” He cracked open the passenger side window just a couple of inches, enough to address the blood-streaked face that was just coming into range of his voice.

“Roger that,” Petra answered for Auruo. “He’s working on the hatch.”

Erwin gave the man a few minutes to get into position, and Nanaba used the opportunity to climb over Hanji and get their sidearm out the window. “I’ve got eyes on Bloody Mary.”

Although the man's change of expression betrayed his ire even beneath the gore, he raised his hands cautiously in the air. "I thought under the circumstances that the military might be keeping a closer eye on its liberal use of lethal force on civilians," he murmured without humor.

“Under the circumstances, we have been authorized to use lethal force if we deem it necessary,” Erwin replied mildly. “Though I sincerely hope that it won’t be.”

"All we've done is shoot civilians since we started," Nanaba added. "Of course, they were already dead. Who are _you_ wearing?"

Erwin lifted the radio and without taking his eyes from the man outside, he said to Auruo, “The civilian will be placing his weapon on the ground. Don’t fire on him unless he goes for the trigger.”

“Hey Billy The Kid. If you move too quickly, I’m shooting you in the head,” Nanaba warned him.

The man scoffed, though he didn’t move a muscle. “Maybe my chances are better out here,” he grumbled, though after a moment he did reach back and slide the shotgun from his shoulders. He held it by the barrel and placed it down gently before he lifted his hands again.

“Is this the only weapon you have?” Erwin asked him, watching his face closely for any sign of untruth.

“Yeah,” Levi grumbled, upset at having lost it.

“Take a couple steps backwards, if you would.”

The man did as Erwin instructed, taking one large step back until his hips were pressed to the rusty van. Erwin watched him impassively, his eyes keen. “I’m Commander Erwin Smith, Special Forces. Who are you?”

The bloody man hesitated, staring hard at the commander. His expression said all he needed it to about the pleasantries Erwin was bothering with while he had a gun pointed at his head. But finally, he sighed. “Levi.”

That look was not lost on Erwin, who catalogued it carefully before continuing his informal interrogation. “Whose blood is that you’re wearing, Levi?”

“Not a clue,” Levi replied casually. “Whoever it was, they were already dead.”

“Why did you flag us down?”

“Before you pointed a gun at me, I was thinking I might be safer with a group,” Levi replied. “I’m seeing now that it was a mistake.”

“Had we been any other group, it might have been.” The company had encountered a couple of civilian survivor groups on their way up. Neither had been pleasant, overcome with either desperation or savagery or both. “Would it be a mistake for us to pick _you_ up?”

“Would it be a mistake for me to let you?”

“I imagine that would depend on how we got along. We’re returning from a mission that was ordered by the U.S. government. Our destination is the Sina, which is one ship belonging a larger refugee convoy on the Atlantic. How does a warm bed, a hot meal and safety sound to you?”

“And a shower,” Nanaba added, wrinkling their nose at the visible crust of drying blood that was beginning to flake off of Levi’s skin and clothing in the places where it was thinnest. “Soap, shampoo … steel wool.”

Levi’s eyebrows visibly rose in interest, despite the gunky mess stuck in them. “Unbelievable,” he replied truthfully. “But I don’t know that I want a gun pointed at me the entire time.”

“I promise I’ll only point it at you until I decide whether I want to shoot you with it or not,” Nanaba swore.

“I can’t afford to spend the time it would take to get to know you better,” Erwin told him, ignoring Nanaba’s quips with the ease of experience. “I would be willing to secure you with zipties temporarily, until I have evaluated your degree of trustworthiness. It would inconvenience you, but it beats being in the crosshairs of--” The commander’s eyes leaped to the pavement just by Levi’s ankle.

Levi furrowed his brow and moved to follow Erwin’s gaze, but before he had fully turned, long, bony fingers gripped his ankle. He tried to turn and tear his foot free, though he stumbled over the rotting arm holding him fast. There was a flash of teeth, a terrifying pressure on the tip of his boot. The Romero yanked at Levi’s ankle, curling torn, bloodied fingers into the pavement and using both grips to drag itself out from under the van, exposed muscle flexing along its arms as it struggled to climb Levi's fallen body, chewing its way up his boot as its teeth gnashed together, seeking vulnerable flesh to sink them into. Its torso was almost completely severed at the waist, spine broken and protruding, trailing intestines alongside its useless legs.

Erwin threw the humvee door open and dropped to the pavement, Mike beside him in an instant. The commander had intended to snatch up Levi’s discarded shotgun and ram the butt of it into the side of the corpse’s head, but Levi beat him to it, pulling a handgun from under his shirt and barely missing his own foot as he fired it expertly into the Romero’s head Blood and flakes of skull exploded and splattered onto the pavement as its grip on his ankle relaxed.

“Shit,” Levi sighed, but the word had barely left his mouth before his face met roughly with the pavement. Mike dug a knee into his back and kicked the handgun away from him before he folded Levi’s hands harshly behind him. Levi hissed as he felt the gravel tearing at his skin, and he struggled briefly before his eyes grew wide with realization. “Careful!” he snapped, though Mike paid him no heed, leaving him no opportunity to express concern for what might happen if Romero blood got into his bloodstream.

Erwin caught onto his meaning, though, and also thought it would be prudent to try and avoid open injuries until the gore came off Levi. “Don’t break the skin,” he told Mike, bending to retrieve the handgun from the ground where his assistant commander had kicked it. He ejected the magazine and emptied the next round from the chamber, pocketing the ammunition and tucking the weapon itself into his belt. Nanaba had the shotgun leveled at Levi’s head, preferring it to their sidearm perhaps because they enjoyed the insult of threatening a person with their own gun.

“Hold up there, Baby Face Nelson. Commander asked you if you had anymore weapons and you said you didn’t.”

“And I’m glad I did,” Levi growled as Mike pulled him roughly onto his knees. “If I’d turned that over to you, too, I’d be fucked right now.” He turned a glare on Erwin. “I’m more interested in self-preservation than full disclosure to someone like you.”

“I’m sure you understand how this looks to us.” Erwin crouched down in front of the smaller man and pushed his fingers beneath his arms, patting his way down to his hips. He checked the small of his back, his waistline, and then nodded to Mike. “Stand him up.”

Mike stood, dragging Levi to his feet. “Erwin,” he said gruffly, “I think it’s too much of a risk to bring him along.”

Levi huffed, though his eyes found their way to the boot that had just saved his life, and the remainder of the rotting head still lying near it. Erwin knelt again to check his front and back pockets and the legs of his pants. He pulled up the bottom hem of each and found the handle of a knife poking out of one boot, its blade encased in a leather sheath.

“I tend to agree.” The commander pulled the knife free and passed that up to Nanaba as well.

“We’ve got Romeros closing, Sir,” Auruo called to them from the roof of humvee two, where his upper body was just visible through the open hatch. Erwin glanced back towards him and found that several of the others had piled out of the humvees when he had, intending to provide backup if necessary.

“Prepare to move out,” he told them. “We’re going.”

“Hey,” Levi barked, tearing free of Mike’s loosened grip. “If you’re going to leave me out here then give me back my shit,” he said. Although he spoke to Erwin, his eyes were on Nanaba and his shotgun.

“We will return your weapons and you can stay out here with the Romeros if you like,” Erwin told him, “or you can consent to be ziptied for as long as I deem it necessary. It’s your choice. Make it quickly.”

With one hand on his hip and the other running through his filthy hair, Levi looked at the other humvees, trying to peer around them at whatever might be approaching. "Damn," he finally grumbled, shaking his head as he bent to pick up the small duffle bag. "Fine. I hope you have plenty of room."

Erwin nodded to Nanaba, who lowered the shotgun with only a small amount of visible reluctance. “Move to humvee two. They have more space in the back than we do.”

Nanaba hesitated, but turned to do as he instructed. “I’ll keep in radio contact,” the captain promised, eying Levi's human crust in disgust. “You’ll want a tarp for that.”

"On it," Mike replied, pulling one from a crate in the back of humvee one. He set about quickly draping it over one of the seats and snatched Levi's bag from him, tossing it haphazardly into Erwin's seat to be searched.

"Careful with that ..." Levi huffed as Mike returned with a ziptie. He motioned for Levi's hands and the smaller man stuck them out willingly.

"Haha, I don't think so," Mike said, raising an eyebrow at the way Levi held his hands thumb to thumb, as though planning to shimmy out of the extra space it would give him. With a scowl, Levi pressed the insides of his wrists together and Mike tied them, perhaps with a little more force than necessary.

Erwin watched this proceed with an expression that did not project much trust, his eyebrows drawn low. He had a nasty suspicion that they were going to have to throw this man out of the humvee, but he didn’t want to leave him to the Romeros without knowing that for sure.

“Romeros at one hundred yards,” Auruo announced. “They’ve seen you.”

Mike hurriedly shoved Levi into the tarp-covered seat, and Levi didn't protest. He simply pulled his legs in after him and allowed Mike to shut the door. As the others hurried back to their own humvees, Mike followed suit and locked the doors.

 

 

On the floor between the two back seats, Hanji stirred, their nose twitching at the foul smell emanating from Levi’s person. “I smell dead people,” they groaned, cracking an eye open and taking in the gross spectacle that Levi made with admirable aplomb.

“This is Levi,” Erwin said, climbing up into the passenger seat and slamming the door behind him. “We just picked him up from the highway. Stay on the other side of the humvee until we know more about him.”

Hanji frowned at the blood-soaked man in the seat beside them, rubbing their eyes beneath their glasses as they sat up. “Did you do that to yourself?” they asked. “I can only assume that such a liberal application of gore was intentional.”

“Yeah,” Levi replied simply.

“I wasn’t able to study the Romeros in depth after the outbreak,” they told him regretfully. “I had to be very selective with the tests I ran, so I was never able to work out all the ways they identify prey, which senses they use and which they don’t, if there are any. Sound and sight are obvious, and they especially like motion, but I never got a chance to experiment with smell. Did you notice a decrease in the Romeros’ interest in you after you did this?”

Levi glanced at Hanji out of the corner of his eyes. At first he was silent, seeming irked and uncooperative, but after a moment, he finally spoke. "It was like I was invisible to most of them. Stands to reason that their predatory instincts are olfactory-based." He shifted his hands in the ties. "It's fucking gross. But I'm alive."

“Is the blood Romero or human?”

“Romero. Smearing myself with human blood would be like taking a bath in beef broth and walking into a dog fighting ring.”

Hanji brightened considerably at that. "Marine biologists found that canisters containing the scent of dead shark was a significant deterrent to living sharks. Perhaps something similar ..." They reached under their seat and pulled a gauze pad from the first aid kit. "I could clean your face off if you like."

Levi paused, torn between the embarrassment of being cleaned up by a stranger and the disgusting, drying, reeking gore on his face. Finally, he nodded. "In the case of sharks, it's probably self-preservation. With snackers, I think they just aren't interested in anything already dead."

“Snackers?” Hanji laughed delightedly. "That's true of course. One is about blending in and the other is about scaring a predator away. The basic concept of the canister, however, is the same."

"Dr. Zoë," Mike said softly, "be careful with him."

"Don't worry about us, Assistant Commander Z," Hanji said, ignoring his warning and moving closer to take Levi's chin in their hand. Either they didn't notice Levi's discomfort and unease or they simply paid it no mind as they tipped his head back and wiped matter-of-factly at his face. "Some of this has dried. I'll have to put a little muscle into it."

"You're not gonna hurt me," Levi assured them, tilting his own head up so that Hanji wouldn't have to hold it here. "So how long until we get to one of those showers?"

"Who knows," Hanji said honestly, scrubbing a little at the dried on blood. "They say we’re going to a town just outside of New Haven. One of those barely populated places that used to get tourist attention for being quaint. It isn't a long drive under ordinary conditions, but between here and there we've dealt with stalled traffic, unexpected detours, more stalled traffic, and of course, your 'snackers.' Expect delays is our mindset this trip."

"We're going to have to stop somewhere to clean him up before we get to New York," Erwin said from the front seat. "Only so many things can be dealt with using willpower alone."

"My nose has already gone dead!" Hanji said cheerfully.

"Mine hasn't," Mike sighed.

"I think yours still has eight lives left," Levi mumbled before he turned his eyes to the ceiling. "Oh, that's cute,” he said as he stared up at the handful of pinups and centerfolds covering the ceiling. Although the majority of them were female and looked relatively old with tattered edges and faded color, there were a couple of attractive men taped above the passenger seat. "Got a man you're missing back on the ship, Commander?" he snorted.

"These are Mike and Nanaba's handiwork. Apparently they're under the impression that they have half a sense of humor between them." Something in his tone suggested that he was under that impression as well and would not be admitting it. He also very carefully avoided confirming or denying anything about his actual preferences on the subject of male versus female pin ups.

"Thing One and Thing Two?" Levi clarified. "I don't think it's very funny," he added, and he almost did sound offended, as much as his even tone would betray.

“From what I’ve gathered in the past week,” Hanji didn’t bother lowering their voice, “Mike and Erwin are close friends outside of their involvement with the military. While the male pin ups were obviously intended to be humorous, I haven’t determined yet whether they’re humorous because the commander is in fact gay or because he isn’t gay and we are simply not privy to all of their inside jokes. He isn’t an easy man to read.” They tossed the soiled piece of gauze onto the floorboard and used a second, dry piece to mop up the bloody water that remained.

Levi only sighed through his nose and remained still and silent as Hanji cleaned his face. It wasn't perfect, but it was much better, considering the rest of the mess was confined mostly to his clothing. "So," he said conversationally, "why is military still out here? I would have thought you jumped ship with the government and shit."

A look very clearly passed between Mike and Erwin before Erwin answered him. “We did. However, there are still several companies like this one moving through various parts of the country and picking up survivors.” Hanji’s eyebrows shot up over the top frame of their glasses, but they didn’t say anything. It was partly true, anyway.

“Oh?” Levi asked, his own eyebrows raised. “You’re the first I’ve seen, and you didn’t seem too keen on picking up a single, lone survivor. Is there anyone in these vehicles that isn’t a part of your company?”

“Don’t mistake our caution for unwillingness,” Erwin said. “Others we’ve encountered have not been as cooperative as you were. Hanji is the only survivor we’ve found who was both interested in joining us and safe enough to bring along.”

“There was also my personal assistant, Moblit. He got our call for help out before he,” they paused uncertainly here, frowning. “I don’t know what happened to Moblit. They didn’t find him.”

Levi cast Hanji an understanding and apologetic look, though he didn’t forget his suspicion. He wouldn’t voice it, but opted for giving Erwin a meaningful stare through the rearview, which Erwin did not appear to be paying any attention to anyway. The commander had pulled his map back down from the dashboard where he’d left it and was apparently enthralled.

“Goodness!” Hanji exclaimed. “You’re so much older than I was expecting you to be.” They leaned back a little to get a better look at Levi’s face, swiping quickly at a couple of spots they missed. “Look at this, Erwin. Did you see this one coming?”

Erwin did glance up then, catching Levi’s suspicious expression in the mirror and turning his head to look at the man himself, studying his sharp features with clinical interest. Something stirred in the back of his memory--that odd sensation of the brain trying to recognize another person and coming up blank. Erwin had seen a lot of faces. Levi's could be one of those, or he could look similar to someone that he _did_ really see somewhere. Erwin dismissed it as one of the mind's many quirks, figuring it didn't matter. “He did seem younger underneath the gore. Early twenties, maybe.”

Levi’s nose wrinkled. “That isn’t a compliment, you know.” He shifted his wrists again, already red and irritated. “Maybe Elizabeth Bathory was onto something.”

“If she was, you have plenty of guilt-free bodies to bathe in,” Hanji said lightly, obviously enjoying the new arrival. “Though I wouldn’t indulge until we’ve determined which fluids are infectious.”

“Well, that gives us time to find an ancient, claw-footed bathtub. I can wait.”

“That’s disgusting …” Mike grumbled from the front seat.

“Sorry?” Levi said lightly, tilting his head and looking up at Mike. “I don’t speak nose whistle.”

Mike glowered in the rearview. “I was talking to the adults.”

“There’s still some interference. Maybe it’s the mustache? Now _that’s_ disgusting.”

“It’s the end of the world - nobody shaves every day.” Mike snapped, and when he looked back, he noticed Levi reaching up to indicate his own more or less clean-shaven face. “I just assumed you never hit puberty.”

Levi sneered and shifted as though to stand, but he settled back into his seat when he thought better of it. Hanji’s cackling stopped abruptly as they realized how serious things were getting, but Erwin simply returned to his map with a pointed, “Settle down.” Erwin didn’t add, _children_ , but somehow the sentiment was clearly stated.

Levi redirected his harsh glare, though he finally settled back against the tarp. “Keep your dog on a tighter leash,” he grumbled as he turned to look out the window, though Mike remained silent.

Hanji leaned back against the side of their seat, shifting in the tense silence that settled over the humvee. The sudden crackle of radio static made a couple of them jump when Nanaba got on the coms to ask, “So … have you asked Napoleon yet if he likes _The Walking Dead?_ ” 


	3. The Right Stuff, The Low Price

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The company encounters the first of many hangups and Levi demonstrates some character traits that concern the commander, making him wonder if they would be safer leaving Levi behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, thank you all so much for reading and commenting and following the [Attack on Zombie blog](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com/). We've loved hearing from you and we're glad you all seem to be liking the project so far!

 The humvee was surprisingly peaceful, despite the awkwardness of the silence. Levi was much less argumentative because his energy had been redirected towards studying Erwin and Mike--their dynamic and their dispositions, though he paid especially close attention to Erwin. The commander gave few orders throughout the day, opting instead to focus his attentions on the map in his lap and the route in front of him. This lack of interaction made him incredibly difficult to read, though it didn’t prevent Levi from trying.

For all his efforts, though, Erwin didn’t give him much. The commander came off as a near-perfect model of what a soldier should be. He was calm and reserved, diplomatic, competent. When they were forced to make detours and stop to tow vehicles from their path he was careful and methodical, going through the routine motions without any sign of becoming complacent. His soldiers clearly respected him, deferred to his judgment, and showed no sign that a single one of them lacked confidence in his ability to lead them. If Levi intended to make a move against them, and he did, he would have to think about it very carefully first. Erwin Smith would not be an easy man to take advantage of. But if he could slip off with that humvee it would be worth the trouble.

Levi remained silent, unperturbed even when the humvees had to begin driving on the sloped, muddy shoulder of the highway to avoid towing an excessive amount of vehicles from what must have been an evacuation route. Empty cars and vans and RVs crowded the lanes and sometimes even the shoulders and median, doors open, belongings abandoned inside. It was something like the Christian Rapture, he thought, as though the drivers and their passengers had all simply evaporated from where they had been sitting.

Erwin finally got around to searching Levi’s filthy duffel bag, checking every single pocket and also the lining for anything that Levi could either use as a weapon or a means of slipping his zipties. There weren’t many clothes, though Erwin assumed you wouldn’t need many when the set you have was so painstakingly slathered in aromatic body fluids. Why change into clean clothes just to sling more gore all over them? Erwin did find a couple more knives, which he confiscated, a pair of fingernail clippers and a shaving razor, which he also confiscated, a flashlight, batteries, a first aid kit (which he confiscated the scissors from), one full bottle of water and one half-empty, a handful of granola bars, a banged up children’s book with a French title. Odd. Then he opened the side pocket and saw the reason why Levi snapped at Mike to be careful. The entire pocket was filled to overflowing with cartons of cigarettes, lighters scattered haphazardly among them in a full spectrum of colors. There was even a bag or two of loose tobacco and rolling paper. At least he was pretty sure that was tobacco.

Erwin opened one of the bags and sniffed. Tobacco. With vanilla.

“You have an addiction.”

"I like to think of it as an indulgence." Levi had been thinking about how to make a next move when the radio crackled and a very irked female voice came through.

“Commander,” Petra sighed, “Auruo got the humvee stuck.” Immediately, another voice piped up, though Auruo’s complaints were indecipherable through the radio static. “Auruo, quit.” That part was muffled as though Petra was trying to cover the microphone with her hand. She said something else--something a little more urgent about the importance of not turning the wheel any farther. “Just leave it alone!” was all Erwin could make out.

“Take your hands off the steering wheel, Bossard.” Erwin turned in his seat to try and see out the passenger window, but he couldn’t get a good glimpse of the problem. Humvee two was angled sharply to one side, but so were the rest of them. “We’ll tow you out; just stay put. Snipers get into position. Everyone else hold.” He glanced at Mike as he cracked the door open, checking their immediate surroundings for zombies. “I need you ready to drive.”

Mike nodded and put the car in park. “Do you need some help?”

“I could help,” Levi offered, shifting on top of the tarp.

Mike scoffed. “Nice try.”

"Radio Bossard for me, please. He can help clean up after himself." Erwin hopped down from the passenger seat and circled to the back, glancing up at Auruo as he scrambled out of humvee two to join him.

“It was an accident,” Erwin told the sputtering man. Auruo seemed more embarrassed than anything, not so much fearing Erwin’s wrath as the thought of all the jibes he’d be taking later from his comrades.

"I've got some movement in the trees, Commander," Mikasa called softly from humvee three, her eye pressed to the scope on her rifle. "I'm not sure if it's Romeros or foliage."

Despite the slow decline of summer, the shadows beneath the trees were deep, fiery leaves still mostly bunched together on their branches and creating a full spectrum of shadows as the sun grew heavy in the sky. Erwin raised his eyes from the shifting underbrush to the treetops, which did not move in kind. If it had been an effect of the wind, the canopies would move first. "Cover me," he told Auruo, turning to the humvee and more or less trusting the other man with his back. He didn't act it, but Auruo was actually a hell of a shot.

“Yessir,” Auruo said, unsnapping the holster at his hip.

There was a quiet hum as Levi rolled the window down. “Hurry it up,” he said calmly. “The snackers might find you interesting.”

"Thank you, Levi." Erwin pulled the end of their towing cable from its spool and began unwinding it, his movements quick, but precise.

Evidently unable to stay still with such potential for excitement happening just outside, Hanji climbed up onto the driver and passenger armrests, taking one of the long rifles from under their seat as they went. That wasn't exactly how the roof hatch was supposed to work, but it got Hanji a clear line of sight from the open top to the treeline. They rested the barrel of the rifle on the roof of the humvee and braced the butt against their shoulder, angling their head to look into the scope. "I like this sight thing," they commented, squinting through the magnified crosshairs and into the forest. They had given Hanji a crash course in weaponry shortly after they’d rescued the doctor, but the novelty of a magnified scope hadn't yet worn off. "I like this sight thing a lot. There's definitely some movement going on in there, but I can't tell what it is yet. There are too many shadows."

“Try to zero in on anything you see moving,” Erwin told them.

“Roger that,” they laughed. "Am I allowed to say that?"

“You know, Commander,” Levi murmured, “even if you do get it towed, you’ll have to get that cable off the bumper somehow. And that’s if you successfully get it on in the first place.” He rested his arms on the windowsill and his chin on his hands as best he could. Watching the commander work with such intensity was interesting from a number of angles. Not only was it a good idea to gauge his strength and intensity, but watching the way his muscles moved, how his uniform tugged against him in flattering ways was not unpleasant to look at. “It’d be a real pity if you got eaten.”

Erwin looked around the corner of the humvee to see what Levi’s face was doing and wasn’t at all surprised to find the other man studying him, his expression bland. “I have no intention of being eaten,” was all he said, returning to work with no less poise than he’d demonstrated already.

“I had no intention of being ziptied and held captive today,” Levi replied with a shrug. “Shit happens. Living dead shit. Literally.” He watched quietly for a few more minutes before he piped up again. “I think I heard something.”

“Shut your mouth,” Mike growled, whipping his head around to glower at Levi.

Erwin didn’t even bother telling them to leave each other alone. He just stepped out from behind the humvee with a short coil of wire in his hand and moved to stand close to Auruo, who had lowered his weapon and was squinting into the trees suspiciously. “Okay, Mike, back the humvee up a little.”

Mike cranked the humvee and rolled it back several feet.

“Uh-oh,” Levi sighed. “The noise brought some visitors, I think.” And he wasn’t wrong. The leaves were now shifting audibly and closer to the treeline. A silenced round fired from humvee two as Nanaba hit something.

“We’ve got Romeros,” Nanaba announced unnecessary.

Erwin didn’t even look, trusting his snipers and Auruo to slow the undead as they emerged from the trees. Several more silenced shots cut the air over his head, and it wasn’t the crazed, erratic gunfire of the fearful and untrained. It was precise, measured. Erwin had no doubt that each of those shots would find its target.

There were an awful lot of shots.

Auruo, who did not have a silencer, was holding his fire until the last possible second, not wanting to attract greater numbers to their position. When he started firing, Erwin would know to draw his own weapon. In the meantime, he moved to humvee two and began wrapping the thick braided wire around the front bumper.

“Oh, dear, there are quite a few of them,” Levi said as he leaned farther out of the window to watch Erwin.

“Shut up,” Auruo snapped at him. “It’s a small handful. Nanaba could take them all out on their own, I bet.” But he was raising his weapon even as he spoke. He backed up towards Erwin to assist him if he needed it, but kept his eyes trained on the small group headed towards them.

Erwin secured the cable and yanked to tighten it. All that was left was to reel in the slack and tighten the clamps on humvee one’s end of the line so the cable wouldn’t simply reel itself back out when Mike pulled forward. He could clearly see movement now in his periphery--movement that was getting way too close for comfort.

Just one of the clamps was secured before Auruo finally began firing. Between him and Nanaba, they never quite made it up the incline to the shoulder, but Auruo was still inching towards the humvee. "Not rushing you, Sir, but I think we need to get going," he said, glancing at Erwin.

"And the Green Bay Snackers have crossed the fifty yard line into Patriot territory," Levi said, intentionally deepening his voice and talking quickly as though to mock an announcer. As Auruo landed a hit, "Ooh, looks like a penalty. Why aren't they throwing a flag on that one, Mikey?"

Mike ignored him, shifting nervously in his seat, itching to help his friend but bound to do as he had been ordered.

“Withdraw,” Erwin called to Auruo, who would be pressed for time if he wanted to make it back to his humvee before they were swamped. “Get in on the far side.” Romeros were coming from the other side of the road as well, moving quickly towards the sound of Auruo’s shots, but they wouldn’t make it to the humvee doors before Auruo did. Erwin stepped over the cable and reached down, just managing to throw the other clamp into position as someone farther down the line--Mikasa by the sound of it--opened fire with an unsilenced weapon, hoping to draw some of the Romeros over to her. It didn’t help much for the ones that had already seen them, but the majority began to visibly change direction, buying them the time they needed to duck around the side of the humvees and climb up.

Petra was already starting the engine again as Auruo finally slammed the humvee door, giving Mike the ok to begin pressing forward. The assistant commander didn't budge, though, until Erwin finally closed his own door and Levi rolled up the window.

"Should we wait them out?" Mike asked quietly as hungry, angry fists and nails began to pound and claw at the door.

“Not unless the crowd grows,” Erwin answered. “It would take them too long to disperse. Go ahead and tow humvee two and when we free them they’ll just have to stick close to our bumper and go slow until we’re clear of all this.”

Mike nodded and moved forward, nudging through the small horde with relative ease. As several tons of dead weight hit the cable, humvee one groaned and jerked in protest. It came to a full stop before it started dragging the other vehicle through the mud.

"Cross your fingers that the others don't get stuck in the ruts we just left."

Once freed of that one soft spot, humvee two rolled smoothly behind them in neutral, but there would be a small place where they’d torn up the ground dragging it out. The others would know to avoid that area, but the margin they had to work with wasn’t wide. Hanji watched for a short while from the open roof before they passed their rifle down to Erwin and ducked back into the humvee, looking windblown and cheerful.

“That went well!” the doctor decided, watching unapologetically as Erwin made a point of flipping the safety on before returning the weapon to Hanji.

Mike periodically glanced back in the rear view mirror, keeping an eye on the humvees behind them to ensure they were running smoothly. The others seemed to get over the ruts just fine, but movement in their own humvee was beginning to unsettle him.

In the corner of the mirror he saw Levi, his wrists brought to his mouth. He wasn't sure if Levi was tightening the tie or trying to chew through it, but when he looked up again Levi was staring forlornly out the window, hands back in his lap.

"What are you up to back there?" Mike asked, suspicious, casting a glance at Erwin.

"Chopping wood so that we may survive this long, harsh winter."

"You’re very pensive."

"Counting snackers and noting numbers and approximate placement in relation to large cities in an attempt to predict where other large groups might be headed."

“I think I just got a vocabulary boner,” Hanji muttered, but they were promptly ignored.

"And does that somehow involve your tie?"

"Is anything disconnected anymore?"

Erwin had a feeling that Levi was making an active effort to be disconnected. Without commenting on the subject Erwin climbed into the back of the humvee and took Levi by the forearm, pulling his wrists from his lap where he’d hidden them. The tie was still fastened, though it was quite a bit tighter than Mike would have tied it--tight enough that if Levi raised his arms over his head and brought them down in the right way, he could break the clasp. Erwin looked up at their captive, his expression dark. “You’re giving me far too many reasons not to trust you.” He pulled another tie from his pocket and looped it over the first. “Don’t tighten this one. I’ll be checking.”

"I don't care to be trusted," Levi replied. "I want to be treated like a human being instead of a wild animal. I can't overpower three people, much less an entire convoy. What are you afraid of?"

Erwin did not seem impressed. He returned to the front seat and settled back in before he even bothered replying. “We wouldn’t have taken a wild animal with us at all. You’re being treated like a human being that cannot be trusted, and rightfully so it would appear. However, you are not a prisoner. Give the word and I will cut your restraints and we will return you to the road with everything we confiscated from you.” Erwin’s gaze was steady. He was not bluffing.

Levi huffed loudly and turned to look out of the window again, propping his bloody boots on the shoulder of Erwin’s seat.

“Keep an eye on him, Hanji,” Erwin told the doctor. “If he attempts to tamper with his restraints, call up.”

“Sure,” the doctor agreed, shooting a skeptical look in Levi’s direction. But they had other things on their mind as well. “Would now be a bad time to throw in an observation about the practicality of bullets?”

“No, go ahead.”

Hanji leaned forward in their seat so they could see Erwin’s face in the mirror. “I think you should explore close-range alternatives to firearms. With the way I’ve seen the Romeros respond to sound, a gunshot at close-range especially could get you caught at the center of a swarm. And as you’ve already seen, gunfire draws additional Romeros from farther off--Romeros that may have ignored you otherwise. You need something with the power of a long-handled weapon and the slicing capability of a blade. Something like a machete or an axe. They sell both at outdoor stores, which many people wouldn’t immediately think to go to if the government suddenly issued an evacuation order. It would be the grocery stores and gas stations they hit first. Gun stores. Outdoor stores don’t immediately come to mind for most people.”

"An axe would be too heavy to deal with multiple ... Romeros? Machetes would be ideal, or long swords. Crossbows, even, if there are any left," Levi added, removing his feet and leaning forward as well.

"Too heavy for you, maybe," Mike grumbled.

"Fucking rude."

“We’re still in an area with a relatively low population,” Erwin said over the top of his map. “If there’s an outdoor store in the area and it isn’t too elaborate a detour, we’ll see what our options are.”

The GPS on the dashboard showed their current location, though they didn’t have a route plugged into it. They’d been making so many detours and having to account for so many post-apocalyptic factors that Erwin had pulled out the paper map and started making notes on that somewhere around day two, giving up on their electronics. Now, though, he reached over and plugged in the search terms for any sporting goods stores in the area and found an Academy two exits up and 4.9 miles away. “We’ll see what the parking lot looks like,” he said, lifting the radio from the dash and calling the others to let them know that they’d be exiting in a couple of miles.

The highway didn't clear up until they were nearly at the exit. Auruo drove the second humvee close to the first to leave some slack on the tow cable as they inched their way carefully along the shoulder, Erwin paying very close attention to the feel of the vehicle beneath them. Mike was an excellent driver, but if _they_ got stuck they would have a very serious problem on their hands. Several times the wheels tried to spin out, failing to get much traction in the slippery grass, but  aside from a couple of hair raising moments they didn't slow until they found the Academy.

The parking lot wasn't empty, but the cars in it were and it immediately set off alarms. Mike pulled up along the side of the building just shy of the door and as Auruo stopped behind them, Eld and Gunther hopped out immediately to undo the cable. While they were working on that, Erwin saw to it that their snipers were in position, motioning for Ymir to stay with Levi and humvee one. Hanji would be going in with them and he wanted all of the vehicles ready to drive at a moment’s notice.

“Keep an eye on him,” was all Erwin had to say to the girl. “We’re not sure he’s trustworthy.” She saluted the commander without interest and sauntered over to the door.

Before Ymir had a chance to climb in, however, Levi hopped out of the humvee on the far side and lifted his arms. He swung his elbows down to his hips and with a sharp snap, both zipties popped off at last. He shook his hands, which had been going numb, stretching as he shrugged off the bloody hoodie and folded it neatly, leaving it on the floorboard before joining Erwin and his small crew on the other side without a word.

Levi had a brief second of peace after he turned the corner before Mike noticed him. Immediately, the assistant commander whirled around and slammed Levi face-first into the humvee. The smaller man cried out, stunned, though he did not struggle.

“Mike.” Erwin’s first assumption was that Levi had said something a little too biting, requiring Erwin to call Mike off a rare display of pique. However, the smaller man’s hands were pressed to the side of the humvee, one on each side of his head. Separately.

“What happened to the restraints you agreed to wear, Levi?” Erwin asked him.

Levi met Erwin with an even, defiant gaze, but otherwise did not answer and did not move.

“I’ll keep an eye on him until we finish up,” Erwin told Mike, lowering his voice to add. “And then we’re going to have a serious discussion about whether or not we’re leaving him here.” He took Levi by the shoulder as Mike released him and shoved lightly to get him a couple steps out in front of him. There was steel in his tone, but no anger. “Stay a couple of feet in front of me. If you move abruptly in any direction I will assume you intend to kill one of my men and I will shoot you.” Erwin didn’t feel it was necessary to tell Levi how quickly he could remove his gun from its holster.

Levi glowered at Erwin when he shoved him and reached up to brush off his shoulder.

Eren and Jean were clearly ready to go. As soon as Erwin’s back was turned, the taller boy lunged at Eren in slow motion, calling quietly, “On guard, whelp!” as he swung his utility knife down. Eren blocked him a little more aggressively than was strictly necessary, scowling deeply in disapproval.

“How fucking old are you, Horseface?”

“At least double the age you pretend to be when the Commander is nearby.”

All of this occurred in hissed undertones as though they weren’t close enough for Erwin to hear the entire exchange. The commander was beginning to think they didn’t make enough pitstops. The boys were like a couple of German shepherds. If you left them unoccupied and cooped up for too long they started eating people’s shoes and chewing up the furniture. Armin stood quietly with the rest of the group, keeping a noteworthy distance between himself and the other two boys and looking the slightest bit relieved to be out of the humvee they shared.

Erwin could only imagine the ‘stay on your side no stop touching me that’s not funny get your stuff off of my half of the humvee’ kind of road trip that Armin and Mikasa must have been forced to endure.

The automatic doors would not open at first, and Eren and Jean had to force them, a task they took to with gleeful abandon, snarking at each other the entire time. Hanji watched them in fascination. “I don’t detect any real anger here,” they told Erwin in a far more effective undertone than Eren and Jean had attempted. “It’s like they derive enjoyment from it.”

“They’re married.” Nanaba didn’t bother with lowering their voice. “They’re the only ones who haven’t realized it.” They clapped Hanji on the back and went to help the boys, who looked like they might be on the verge of hurting themselves. Eren had the blade of his knife firmly wedged between the doors and was trying to twist it sideways to force them open, only it looked ready to slip straight down into his thigh.

“Eren, take that shit out of there. Who taught you about physics?” Nanaba walked straight up to the door and slammed the butt of their rifle into it, a perfect spiderweb blossoming out from the point of contact. One more strike punched straight through the weakened glass, and they reached in to turn the lock on the inside, yanking the doors apart in a handful of seconds. “Christ almighty you kids are scary. Don’t cut towards yourself, moron.”

The inside of the superstore was dark, all of the lights gone except for the battery-powered emergency circuits. Even then, it was too dim for all of the simple units to be active. They must have been reaching the end of their life then, winking out one after the next. The effect was strange. Stores were never meant to be seen in the dark like this, shelves hulking vaguely in the gloom, their shadows lumping together and giving the whole place a deep, cave-like feel. Then there were the better lit areas--the places where parts of the store were almost fully visible in the fading orange light. It was like a movie set or a theme park attraction, disorienting and unreal. The group crept in, guns lowered at their sides but grasped firmly.

“You ought to make noise,” Levi said quietly. “Draw them all out so you can clear the place in one go instead of risking getting split up or surprised.”

“ _Where_ do you get your ideas from?” Nanaba gushed, brushing past them with an automatic rifle on their shoulder. And the strange unreality of the place was nearly shattered by the normalcy of their snark. “It’s almost like the rest of us are complete amateurs or something.” They sauntered over to the customer service counter and hopped up nimbly, clearing their throat and knocking the barrel of their weapon against one of the metal poles. “Listen up, Romeros,” they belted out, _“High on a hill was a lonely goatherd. Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo. Loud was the voice of the lonely goatherd. Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo.”_

Nanaba was not a gifted singer, but they could project very well. From all over the store came the sounds of hasty movement, overturned displays, products falling to the floor, and Nanaba lowered the rifle into a position more suitable for firing without ever breaking their tune. _“Folks in a town that was quite remote heard, Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo! Lusty and clear from the goatherd's throat heard, Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo!”_

Mike was flat out howling by the second verse, and Nanaba’s antics even got a snort from Levi. Mike joined in the singing as he lifted his own rifle and looked farther into the store. The darkness made it hard, but when bodies began to appear, stumbling towards them, groaning and growling, they were met with a barrage of fire.

Most of the younger members of the group obviously had no idea what was going on because they stared in bafflement at Mike and Nanaba as though the pair of them had gone completely insane. Hanji, however, picked up the next part, adding, _“A prince on the bridge of a castle moat heard, Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo!”_

And to everyone’s utter astonishment, it was Erwin who contributed, _“Men on a road with a load to tote heard, Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo,”_ raising his voice to be heard over the sound of gunfire. Despite their laughter, Mike and Nanaba were actually taking care of most of the Romeros as they appeared.

Levi had leaned against the counter and was thoroughly enjoying the show but only when Erwin joined in did he raise an eyebrow. It was a side that he had never expected to see, something more human and soft. He watched silently as Mike finished off the last Romero with a headshot and pushed himself from the countertop. Nanaba turned to the group with a highly embellished bow and jumped down, using Mike’s shoulder to steady themselves.

“And _that’s_ how it’s done,” Nanaba stated smugly.

"That was cute," Levi said as he headed for the backpacking section in search of a large bag.

“Stay with the group,” Erwin said firmly, his expression going from almost relaxed to completely serious so quickly it was like he’d never looked any other way. “A couple feet in front of me at all times.”

"Then follow me," Levi insisted, stopping instead at a small section of what appeared to be school backpacks. He took one from the shelf and inspected it.

"That isn't how this works. You can either stay several feet in front of me or I can zip tie each of your hands separately to the customer service desk."

"I could knock him out with the ass end of my rifle," Nanaba offered crudely.

Levi glanced up at them briefly before he unzipped all of the backpack's pockets and dug through them, depositing the filler trash on the ground. "You said you were gonna ditch me here anyways. Return my bag to me and leave me be."

“After we leave, I will gladly do so. However, I can’t have you wandering through a store filled with weapons and blind spots while my men are here.”

"Oh, yeah," Levi replied, lowering his hand with the backpack. "It's a huge risk, putting me in here with armed and trained military personnel." All the same, he returned to Erwin's side.

Erwin studied him blandly, his hand resting almost casually over the top of his sidearm. His backup was strapped to his ankle--a place that would take Levi more than a second to reach if he even suspected it was there, but if the smaller man lunged for the one on Erwin’s hip he might have been able to grab it without Erwin's hand there. “Mike, you stay with Hanji. Everyone else, fan out and do a sweep for any trapped Romeros or hidden civilians. Then see what weaponry you can scrounge up.”

With a couple of ‘rogers’ the group broke up, splitting on its own into small teams. Erwin nodded to the clothing section. “Get yourself something else to wear, Levi. We don’t have extra uniforms in your size.”

“Try the children’s department,” Nanaba suggested, laughing as they trailed after Mike and Hanji.

Levi ignored the comment, willingly doing as he was told and scavenging the men’s section. Thankfully, his size was not a popular one and so he had a fair pick of some of the things. A couple of pairs of jeans, a few shirts and a new, clean hoodie. He stuffed them in the backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

“Hey Levi!” Hanji called from across the store. “I found you something!” The doctor came striding up with a shopping basket full of lurid orange bottles. They passed the one in their hand to Levi, staying a good couple of steps away from him for Erwin’s sake without looking terribly concerned about it themselves. “Get a load of the name. _Dead Down Wind Scent Prevent_. If that isn’t a marketing tragedy I don’t know what is." 

Levi turned the bottle in his hand, inspecting it, and a smile tugged at his lips. He stuffed the shampoo bottle into the backpack and looked back up at Hanji. “You couldn’t have brought me any greater gift,” he said amiably.

“How about bug spray?” They asked, indicating the basket. Upon closer inspection, there were actually quite a few cans of the stuff scattered amongst the soap. “Has it occurred to anyone yet to wonder what might happen if a mosquito or a tick bites a Romero and then bites a living human?”

Levi was quiet for a moment, staring at Hanji unblinkingly until finally, “... Shit.” He took one of the bottles and added it to his backpack as well. “You really are a genius, you know that?”

“That’s what they tell me,” Hanji agreed. “Insects have been common vectors for disease since antiquity. There’s a historical precedent.” They held the basket out to Erwin as well, but he shook his head.

“I want all of the bug spray this store has in stock. Take a cart to the stockroom. If we make it back to the Sina, they can add it to the cargo bay. I have no doubt that bug spray was not high on their list of emergency supplies.” Erwin did not recall hearing about any bug problems on the Sina, but if they did encounter such problems it would be lice and fleas--the very insects that Hanji had just warned them against. And if they planned to send anyone else ashore they could use a good supply.

Levi reached over and took a couple more cans for himself before he took an empty cart that had been left nearby. “While Four-Eyes is doing that, we could check out the weapons situation.”

“I believe the others have that well in hand,” Erwin said. He hadn’t gotten a look yet at their weapons ‘situation’ and he didn’t want a stray hunting knife to end up pressed against someone’s throat. “You and I can go and see what they have in the way of first aid supplies. A military convoy can never have too much rubbing alcohol.”

“Looking out for your convoy is all fine and good, but just remember that I’m looking out for me,” Levi said sternly. “I’m not leaving without a close-range weapon.” He turned and headed in the direction of the first aid and medicinal aisle.

Erwin made no promises. If all went well and they could part on amiable terms, if his discussion with Mike and Nanaba decided him on the issue of cutting Levi loose, he did intend to leave the other man with one of the bladed weapons they found, but he couldn’t predict a thing like that without knowing more about Levi’s mental state. There were a lot of ifs to contend with. Erwin hadn’t even decided what to make of Levi’s behavior. The man was rude and uncooperative and didn’t seem to possess the common sense to make nice with the people who could toss him back onto the road they found him on, but that didn’t necessarily make him dangerous. He’d broken his restraints and acted a little questionably, but was a little belligerence enough to justify leaving him out here? Doing so would be a death sentence. Levi had obviously been doing alright on his own, but a person couldn’t do that forever. One day he was bound to wind up in a situation he could not get out of and if he wasn’t truly a threat that life would be on Erwin’s hands.

It would be one of many, many more.

There wasn’t much to offer in the way of immediately obvious medical supplies. Things like bandages and ointments were almost entirely scavenged, but the rubbing alcohol seemed to have been skipped in favor of those things. Levi took three bottles of it and left a few for Erwin, who gathered the rest and added them to the shopping basket Hanji had left with them. He also grabbed a couple extra medical tools while he was at it. The tweezers hadn’t been too badly picked over, and he found a couple pairs of medical scissors. To his delight, the iodine was nearly untouched, and after a moments’ hesitation, he passed Levi one of the precious bottles. “Put a couple drops of this into your water to sanitize it before you drink it.”

Levi took the bottle and looked at it before he returned his eyes to Erwin’s. “Thank you,” he said earnestly, though much less enthusiastically than he had thanked Hanji. He placed the bottle carefully in the same pocket with the clothes. “Ah, let me get one of those pairs of tweezers, too.”

Erwin silently passed him one of the sets as he pulled them off the rack. They’d about cleaned out the remaining items on the shelf, but he sat back on his heels to double check anyhow. Seeing nothing, he stood, about to tell Levi that they were heading over to the fishing equipment when an unfamiliar voice rang through the store, shouting unintelligibly for several seconds. Erwin could just make out a rough demand to talk to the person in charge, and it sounded just hysterical enough that when Erwin motioned for Levi to follow him, his stride was considerably brisk.

Levi was surprisingly quick to follow, walking half a pace behind Erwin as they headed in the direction of the commotion.

It seemed to have been coming from the back, near the stockroom exit. They found the source of the disturbance fairly quickly. Eren and Jean had their sidearms trained on what seemed to be Hanji, but upon closer inspection it became clear that someone had the doctor in a chokehold with a small pistol pressed to their temple. Levi picked up his pace upon seeing his soap-bearing friend in immediate danger.

“Stop right there!” The man cried, his eyes wild with mad terror where they settled on Levi. “Stop! I’ll shoot her!”

“I prefer genderless pronouns, actually,” Hanji said pleasantly, though their eyes were a little wide. “Unless you want to use male and female pronouns equally. I try to be balanced about these things.”

“Hanji.” Erwin held his hands up in a non-threatening manner as he came to stand beside Levi. “You have my attention, Sir,” he said. “How can we help you?”

“You in charge?” the man growled, eying Erwin up and down where he stood calmly, his posture relaxed and open and projecting absolute competence.

“I am. I’m Commander Erwin Smith with U.S. Special Forces. We’re on an official mission for the government and we mean you no harm. If we can come to a peaceful arrangement, that would be in everyone’s best interests, don’t you agree?”

“Government? Have you looked around? There _is_ no fucking government! Drop your weapons and leave all that stuff here. I was here first.”

Erwin nodded to the others. “I’m sure we can come to an arrangement that suits everyone. Lower your weapons.”

“I said _drop_ them.” The man pulled the hammer back on his tiny revolver. The metallic clink as it fell set into motion an even more delicate chain of events.

Levi stepped forward and slid Erwin’s sidearm from his hip almost effortlessly. It took him less than a second to slide, aim, and shoot, and blood splurted from the man’s armed hand. He cried out and dropped the gun, and in his shock he released Hanji.

There was a brief moment, tense and confused, where no one moved. Petra managed to take Hanji by the elbow and pull them back into Gunther and Eld’s protective circle. The injured man’s eyes lit on an axe in the floor, where it must have been dropped by another party. Levi followed his gaze and they both lunged for it. Unluckily for the stranger, Levi beat him to the heavy tool and stood, raising it over his shoulder. The man quelled, shrinking under Levi’s gaze and clutching at his bleeding hand with the undamaged one.

“Wait, don’t! There’s nothing else on me!” he promised, trying to shift backwards across the floor away from Levi. “It was just the revolver, I swear.”

“Levi.” There was a clear command there that would have made any one of his men stop in his tracks, but Levi was not one of his men and that fact was rapidly becoming clear to him.

"Are you alone? Any friends, family?" Levi demanded, stepping forward again.

“Woah, put the axe down, Lizzie,” Nanaba spoke up, watching the disarmed man with more than a little disgusted pity as he tried to scoot his way backwards across the floor and out of Levi’s reach. They took a step towards the scene as though to try and stop Levi, but Erwin put a hand out to stop them.

“Stay back. Levi, toss the axe onto the floor behind you and step away.”

“I’m alone!” the man cried, his imploring eyes finding Erwin, though they kept jumping back to Levi like a mouse who’d been thrown into a snake’s enclosure. “Please, I lost everyone!”

"Good," Levi replied, and with both hands wielding the handle like a baseball bat, he swung down on the man.

There was no need for a second strike - the axe had been new, sharp, and Levi’s swing had been hard and well-aimed, having split the man’s skull nearly in half. The man went limp and when he crumpled the axe tried to go with him. Levi, his expression cold, detached, propped his foot against his victim’s bleeding head and dislodged the weapon. Resting the axe head on the tile and his elbow on the end of the handle, he took a deep breath and turned to Hanji.

“So, we’re even for the shampoo, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have a lot of extras for this chapter that we will be posting on [the blog](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com) throughout the week. Check the [tag for chapter three](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com/tagged/chapter_3) to see everything all together! And yes, Dead Down Wind is a real actual thing. It's a scent-eliminator used for hunting.


	4. I Gotta Axe You A Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin and Levi size each other up over card games, fishing for answers as they fish for Kings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We had to go back and add something into chapter two about Erwin thinking he recognized Levi from somewhere. This was in the first draft and we made a note to add it back into this one, but it got overlooked in the avalanche of annotations that our docs are filled up with. Sorry about that! There's no need to go back and look for it if you're already caught up. It's only a line or two. Just know that Erwin thought he recognized Levi back in chapter two when Hanji uncovered his face but he dismissed it as one of those weird things the brain does. 
> 
> Also, Levihan is our mutual brOTP. There won't be anything at all romantic between them. :>
> 
> And of course, thanks to [Mandy](http://harmony283.tumblr.com/) for being such a lovely beta.

Levi had been at the site of the New York firestorm.

Erwin had been feeling odd about the man since they met him, when Hanji uncovered his face and exclaimed their surprise at finding a man rather than a child beneath all that blood. He’d dismissed it then as one of those silly, illogical connections the mind tried to make, had barely thought of it again. That initial shock of recognition had faded as he second-guessed that funny habit the brain had of trying to see patterns where there were none. Perhaps Levi’s face resembled a similar one Erwin had really seen. Perhaps it was the haircut, his voice, his mannerisms. Any of those things could trigger a false sense of _deja vu_.

But he had just remembered.

There was something about the position that Levi had assumed, bent forward over that axe handle with his foot on the dead man’s skull, his brow furrowed slightly with the effort of yanking the blade free. Something about it triggered his memory like a swift kick in the ass.

It hadn’t been very organized in the beginning. The fire department was stretched to its limits hosing down all the debris, keeping an eye out for any new fires that might try to spring up. Police and paramedics were focused on digging through the rubble, looking for survivors beneath the charred, collapsed skeletons of burnt-out buildings. There had been no way to keep anyone away, whether they were gawkers or impromptu volunteers. By the time the National Guard arrived with Erwin in tow the scene had become a hive of people with shovels and pickaxes and firehoses. Volunteers handed out bottles of water and granola bars and tools from their trunks, donating work gloves and dust masks by the boxful. They set up wherever there was space.

Before the area was cordoned off, first responders took any help they could get from anyone who offered. Levi had been there that first day, swinging a pickaxe into piles of debris and calling out for survivors. Erwin remembered him clearly, had no doubt that it was the same man even though it had been several years since he first saw him, and only briefly. Levi had handed him half a bottle of water and said gruffly that he could keep it. Erwin had looked straight into the shorter man’s face as he thanked him.

How was this the same person?

Erwin watched Hanji give the man a shaky hug, murmuring something that he couldn’t catch from where he stood despite the stunned silence that had fallen over the store. Levi patted them awkwardly on the back in return as Erwin’s men looked on in bewilderment. They turned then to the commander for guidance, undoubtedly wondering if they should try and disarm the man who now had Erwin’s own handgun and an axe in his possession or if they should thank him for rescuing their objective. The soldiers stood back, shocked but disciplined, waiting to take their cues.

“Start loading the humvees,” Erwin told them calmly. “Except humvee two. You finish clearing the store room before anyone else goes back there.” He shifted his attention to Mike, who looked grim, and Nanaba, who was furious. “Come with me.”

Before Erwin could get too far away, Levi turned the handgun so that the grip was facing outward and offered it back without a word. He did not, however, hand over the axe.

If Erwin found the gesture unexpected he did not let on. He simply reached out and took his weapon from Levi, returning it to its holster. Then he stood there for a moment looking at the shorter man, the gears in his head visibly turning. “Thank you,” he said finally, “for freeing Hanji.”

"I'm not about to let the only person with enough sense to find the soap get killed," Levi replied. "No need to thank me."

Erwin had wanted to discuss their brand new Levi situation with Mike and Nanaba before he addressed the man himself, but things didn’t work out that way. Instead, they all ended up facing off right there in the aftermath, tensions still high and the air between them snapping. He considered dismissing Hanji, but the doctor was involved now as well, standing beside Levi as though they weren’t sure they should be there, their eyes moving between the four of them like they sensed an impending eruption. For the moment Erwin wasn’t concerned with that, though, his chilly attention settling on Levi himself.

"I don't suppose you heard us telling you to stand down once you had that man subdued?"

Levi didn’t respond, though he met Erwin’s eyes and his cool indifference gave away the affirmative.

"Why didn't you put the axe down?”

“If you don’t kill someone who’s troublesome,” Levi said quietly, “there’s always a risk of them coming back and causing trouble later.”

“That wasn’t your fucking call to make!” Nanaba looked like they were about to take a step forward, but reined themselves in at the last minute, their grip tightening around the weapon in their hands. “It wasn’t up to you,” they repeated more calmly. “There were a number of ways that could have been handled without resorting to cold-blooded murder. He was begging for his life, for Christ’s sake.”

But Erwin was thinking about what he said. Levi made a point that Erwin could understand even if he didn’t agree with it. Kill before they kill you. It was one way of handling things, and perhaps it was the safest way for a person on his own as Levi had been. But the fact was, Levi wasn’t alone anymore. He was part of a group that worked because it was organized, because there was a clear structure and way of doing things. Erwin liked to think that those methods allowed them the small, fragile luxury of maintaining their humanity in an inhumane world.

That man’s eyes had been wild with fear, standing alone before a group of heavily armed people in a world where groups had, more likely than not, survived because they were the most ruthless, because they were discovering a code similar to Levi’s and were to be feared for it. In his place, Erwin might have considered grabbing a hostage himself.

"The aggression you witnessed was born out of fear,” was what he told Levi. “Once disarmed, the humane continuation of our encounter would have been to restrain him and see if he calmed down enough to be reasonable. In all likelihood, he would have been.” The commander’s eyes were locked on Levi’s face, not staring him down so much as watching intently for the small changes in expression that should give Erwin some clue as to what was passing through his head. “Presented with a human target, I’ve seen trained soldiers hesitate longer than you did. It’s only natural for us to wonder what kind of a civilian can bury an axe in someone’s brain and barely make an expression.”

"One that survives."  Levi met Erwin's watchful eye with one that was meant to stare him down.

“That’s not how we survive,” Nanaba snapped, unable to keep their mouth shut. “We’re not a pack of wolves. We’re still fucking civilized.”

“Wolves are actually fairly civilized,” Hanji corrected softly, though no one paid them any mind.

“What did you do before all of this?” Erwin asked. “Who were you?”

"A nobody," Levi replied before he turned to Nanaba. "That's not how _you_ survive. You, with your humvees and weapons and food supply. But that's how the rest of us are getting by.”

“You talk like you didn’t just become one of us, expecting to live the exact same way,” Nanaba retorted. “If you want to go be a badass loner until you end up laying there with a Romero gnawing on your kidney, be my guest, asshole. I’ll pack your shit myself.” But Erwin held up a hand to stop his captain.

“The murder you committed is not the only concern here,” he said, his frosty calm countering Nanaba’s hot fury. “As Nanaba has already mentioned, you took my sidearm and acted on your own, undermining the organization and training that delicate situations like that one ought to be handled with. You were lucky, but if you hadn’t been, any number of things could have gone wrong. For starters, did you consider what might have happened if that man’s fingers had tensed on the trigger when you shot his hand?”

“And then you disobeyed direct orders from two officers,” Nanaba added. “Erwin and I told you to stand the fuck down. That does not include driving the head of an axe into somebody’s face!”

Regardless of Erwin's interrogating and Nanaba's agitation, Levi didn't respond, not in anger or defense. He didn't bother shifting his eyes to Nanaba; he only stared at Erwin. Arguing would only make the situation worse and he could already feel himself falling off of the wrong side of the fence.

The commander did not seem to have much confidence that this conversation would turn out in everyone’s best interests. It was actually visible in his face as he looked at Levi--the bare concern rolling just behind the placid exterior. “What we are trying to decide here, Levi, is whether or not it would be too great a risk to take you with us.”

“Yes,” Nanaba answered immediately, looking to Mike for backup, but Mike was still watching Levi like a hawk, as if he were worried that all three of them might blink at the same time and Levi would kill them all before their eyes opened.

Levi scowled at Erwin then. "No. I haven't posed any direct risk to you."

“You’ve lied to military personnel about the number of weapons in your possession, broken the restraints you agreed to wear on a temporary basis and killed another civilian in cold blood as he begged for his life at your feet. The risk may not be direct, but it doesn’t have to be to get us all killed.”

"Being tied and without weapons is absolutely unreasonable in this environment," Levi replied, struggling to keep his voice even. "I thought if I could keep something on me and break the ties without you noticing, we would both be more comfortable."

"Well, you were wrong about that," Mike grumbled. "Erwin's right. The only thing we know about you is that you're dishonest and that you use violence to solve your problems."

Hanji sighed, their expression troubled. Up to that point, they had been listening quietly to each side’s arguments, minimal as Levi’s had been, but they seemed ready to offer some input on the matter. “Levi was wrong to kill that man instead of simply disarming him and leaving the rest to the professionals. Nobody is arguing that. But he did take pains to save my helpless ass. His methods may be questionable, but he’s in our corner. Aren’t you?” Hanji turned expectantly to Levi.

Levi pursed his lips, studying Hanji's face and then Erwin's. “Hanji’s corner," he corrected, certain that was what Erwin wanted to hear, if anything at all. He was in no one’s corner but his own, but if being in Hanji’s gave him a little more time and opportunity, then those corners overlapped.

“We aren’t enemies then,” Hanji decided. “We can agree to disagree on survival tactics and Levi can agree not to be an unruly hooligan and we can all move on. Problem solved.”

It sounded that simple. Erwin could not bring himself to see the situation as the doctor did, however. He glanced at Mike, who would understand this also, that the kind of easy violence they’d just witnessed was not a native trait in any psychologically healthy person. A small handful of weeks wasn’t enough to turn the average person into so unflinching a killer, not even those who had been forced to kill in order to defend themselves. Either Levi had experience with using violence as a tool--something that came with its own set of problems--or the end of the world had brought out some latent psychological disorders in the man. Hanji was correct about one thing, though. He had put himself at risk on Hanji’s behalf and that was something that Erwin would have to consider alongside all the bad. There were no easy answers here.

The commander pushed up his sleeve and looked at his watch. “It looks like I have some time to mull all this over,” he said. “We’ll have to stay the night here.”

Levi looked in the direction of the doors and sure enough, the sunlight was beginning to vanish. "What?" he asked. "Can't drive at night?"

Hanji nudged him with an elbow to shut him up, but Erwin was already headed for the doors, evidently abandoning his resolve to stay within several feet of Levi at all times. “Not without headlights,” the doctor answered for him. “You’ve been out there since the beginning, right? Has it not been your experience that light attracts them?”

"It has," Levi replied. "But in a humvee, that doesn't sound like it should be a problem." He jogged lightly to catch up to Erwin, Hanji right on their heels with their own shopping basket of supplies in hand.

“It becomes an issue when the group grows to such a size that the humvee can’t push through it,” the scientist said. “Moving that slow, it’s easy for Romeros to follow and if that happens and we hit a place where we need to get out to tow a vehicle from our path, well. I’m sure you can see how that would be a problem.”

"Ah," Levi said, nodding. "That makes sense. Hey Blondie, we can use the blow up mattresses in the stockroom."

Erwin paused, looking into the back of the humvee he had just opened at the crate of bedrolls and blankets. That was actually a decent idea if they could find a way to inflate them. “If you want to rig up the batteries and blow them up yourself, be my guest, but you’ll have to find something suitable in the store. You’re not using the humvee batteries.”

“I’ll help!” Hanji said cheerfully. “I’ve done experiments using simple circuits. For fun, not for work,” they clarified unnecessarily. “It’s always good to have hobbies outside your field.”

Erwin decided to stay there and supervise the company’s preparations to spend the night, figuring that Levi would have little to gain from killing Hanji after he’d just finished rescuing them. He wasn’t sure what the man’s end game would be or if he even really had one, but either way it wouldn’t behoove him to axe the scientist. What he did find it prudent to do was go around and tell each of his men to keep a careful eye on their weapons and specifically not to leave any firearms unsupervised during the night.

Levi and Hanji had been successful in the stockroom and Levi came out pushing a large bulk box of deflated air mattresses with the air pumps included. He continued pushing it into a more open part of the store before he pulled a small utility knife he’d found in the back from his pocket and opened it. He emptied out the smaller boxes and claimed one for himself. He tore it open and hooked it up with relative ease and sat quietly beside it, reorganizing his bag and wiping the blood from the axe so that he could tuck it as far as he could into the largest pocket. Hanji joined him a couple moments later with a couple of large batteries and a handful of assorted wire they’d pillaged from the shelves.

“I believe this will do. I’ll show you how to do the first one.” They slid Levi’s already connected mattress and air pump towards them and held out their hand for the man’s utility knife.

Outside, Erwin was directing his men into a more defensive position, sending one of the humvees to the back to keep an eye on those entrances and lining the others along the glass doors at the front of the building, leaving just enough space for his men to squeeze in and out.

“You think he’s going to try to kill us in our sleep?” Nanaba asked, drawing up next to Erwin with their rifle resting casually against their shoulder.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

“I could go ahead and shoot him if you want. He shouldn’t take it personally since that’s his policy as well.” When Erwin gave them a look, however, they grinned. “I was joking. Mostly."

Mike returned from rearranging the humvees and tucked the keys into an inside pocket. He looked over to where Hanji and Levi were working. They had set about doing as many mattresses at a time as possible and apparently intended to blow up the whole box of them. "So what's the plan with him?" he asked as he joined Erwin and Nanaba.

“In addition to the main watch, one of you or myself will be awake at all times, keeping an eye on Levi specifically. In the meantime I’ll be thinking long and hard about whether or not I want to worry about this every night.”

“Well,” Mike sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, “I think whatever happens tonight will be telling, don’t you?”

Erwin hummed indistinctly.

The company was torn, thrilled at the prospect of air mattresses and uncomfortable with the idea that it had been Levi who suggested them. The memory of his axe swinging down was fresh in their minds, and they cast their glances curiously between Levi and Erwin, trying to figure out what the verdict on the strange, quiet man had been. Needless to say, most directed their thanks towards Hanji, smacking the doctor on the shoulder and calling out to them happily as they dragged their mattresses to the spots they claimed. They didn’t seem to know what to do with Hanji’s protests, nah, it was Levi’s idea. Ymir was the only one who gave absolutely no shits about any of it and saluted Levi facetiously as they tossed their bedroll onto the mattress next to Krista’s with a lascivious wink at the flustered blonde. “Right on, creepy weird guy.”

Levi returned the gesture with a brief thumbs up. “No problem, tall freckled lesbian,” he replied simply. He didn’t seem bothered by the lack of thanks or social interaction, and truthfully was almost thankful for it. He disappeared briefly into the changing room with one of the pairs of jeans he’d found and returned without the bloodstained pair before he flopped onto his own air mattress. He propped his backpack below his head and looked over at Hanji. “Don’t let them leave without me in the morning,” he said as he closed his eyes, not expecting to get one of the blankets that Armin and Eren were passing out.

Hanji ensured that he did, though, and patted the side of his head in a friendly way as they draped the commandeered blanket over his small frame. “I can’t promise we won’t leave without you,” they said apologetically, “but I can at least make sure we don’t leave without waking you up.”

“Good enough for me,” he sighed, tugging the blanket tighter around himself. “Thanks, Four-Eyes.”

“Can’t let my rescuer freeze, Little Bit.”

“Gross, stop developing romantically right next to me,” Ymir complained, earning herself a sharp whack from Krista, who was in the process of shoving their mattresses together.

“Aside from Moblit, I haven’t met another human being who meets my sexual and romantic preferences at the same time.” It was unclear whether or not Hanji was serious and Ymir obviously had no intention of finding out, making a face at them as she shoved her legs into the bedroll without bothering to take her boots off and rolled over to face Krista.

“I’m only into huge, burly men. The fireman type,” Levi grumbled from his mattress, his voice soft as if he were already half asleep.

“Like Mike?” Hanji said slyly.

“Oh god, stop,” Ymir moaned, Krista giggling softly into her chest.

“Yeah, that’s disgusting,” Levi sighed.

A little ways away, Nanaba sighed, glancing at Erwin. “Do you want to deal with the girls or shall I?”

Erwin followed Nanaba’s gaze to the two mattresses that were pushed close. Technically while they were on duty their interactions were supposed to remain strictly professional, but he found it a difficult rule to justify when the world had fallen apart and their time together could be limited. He shook his head. “Leave them alone. As long as they keep it group-appropriate I won’t write them up if you don’t.”

“Does that mean I can spoon Mike tonight?” they asked, not entirely joking. “He likes being the little spoon.”

“Absolutely not. You two are officers.”

Nanaba sighed. “I had a feeling you would say that.”

“Maybe we can do it after he falls asleep,” Mike laughed. “Erwin, I’ll stay up for first watch on Levi, if you like.”

“Don’t make me post a watch on you two as well.” But Erwin slapped him on the back of the shoulder as he went to see if any mattresses were left. “Get me in a couple of hours. I’ll need you in good shape to drive.”

"Sure thing," Mike replied, taking a nearby box to use as a seat. Levi was still and seemed, for all intents and purposes, to be asleep. Mike hoped that was the case, but highly doubted it.

 

Erwin did his best to rest while he had the opportunity, but the quality of his sleep was poor and got up again after less than an hour of fruitless tossing and turning. He found Mike and Nanaba playing a card game he didn’t recognize and joined them where they sat around the box, which was now being used as a card table. “Go ahead and sleep if you want to,” he told them. “I’m not making any headway in that area.”

“I’ll stay up with you a bit,” Mike said, dealing a hand to Erwin. “I need to exhaust myself some more. Worried about having nightmares of an axe in my head.”

“That shit ain’t going to stop me from enjoying a real-ish mattress,” Nanaba said, passing their hand to Mike to shuffle back into the deck and ruffling the man’s hair as they left.

Erwin quickly wiped his face of all expression before Mike looked back over at him, but he didn’t think he did it fast enough.

“I’m not sure if you’re upset about something you aren’t telling me or if I dealt you a terrible hand,” Mike said with a slight smile. “I can redeal, you know.”

“My hand is fine, thank you,” Erwin replied. “I was just thinking that it’s good you two are here together.”

“The first thing we are gonna do when we’re back on the Sina, Erwin, is find you a man. I wonder if eHarmony is still up and running. Maybe they have a weekly group meeting for singles or something. You know, weddings increased in number as soon as everything went to shit.”

Erwin snorted softly. That hadn’t been the problem, exactly. It was more about the fragility of the things they did have--the things that were worth living for being the quickest and the easiest to lose. It made him ache thinking of Mike without Nanaba or Nanaba without Mike, and it was an ache he didn’t want to worry about sharing. “I wouldn’t put anyone through that mess. They’d have to be a masochist to agree to it.” He gestured around them to make his point. “I wouldn’t date me. I wouldn’t date anyone like me, either, so don’t even try,” he said sternly. “That is an order from your commanding officer. Do not match-make.”

“We’re not going to be on duty forever,” Mike chuckled. “And the minute we aren’t, I’ll be handing out personal ads in your name.”

“That is identity theft,” Erwin sniffed.

“Alternatively, you recently had a new avenue open up,” Mike went on with a mischievous grin, nodding at Levi.

“Excellent thinking,” Erwin agreed. “If I’m kissing him, I’m too close to give him a good angle with that axe.” Erwin wasn’t about to tell Mike he had no idea what this card game was even called. He would let the man figure that out the frustrating way. “What do you think about him?” he asked, nodding at Levi. “You didn’t say much earlier.”

"I'm not sure. I can't read him, but I think he's too dangerous to risk. That being said, I don't think he could take any of us out and he likely won't risk it."

“We saw today that he’s a problem even if he wouldn’t risk challenging us directly. If that had gone just a little differently we would have lost Hanji. We might have lost others. However.” Erwin lay his cards face down on the box, though he didn’t take his hand off them. “I don’t want to leave someone out here lightly. It’s a death sentence.”

Mike sighed and ruffled his hair. "It is. And maybe that's how he works, but I'd like to think that it's not how we work."

Erwin thought about it for a long time before he finally nodded. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow about the importance of orderly conduct.”

"I don't know how much of a difference that'll make. We could restrain him and you and Hanji could change seats, or you could drive and I could get in the back," Mike replied thoughtfully.

Erwin only sighed. “What a headache.”

Mike did eventually seem to get tired of playing a game he was beginning to realize that Erwin wasn’t even picking up on, and so he finally took the cards and tucked them back into their box. “I’m going to go spoon Nanaba and sleep a bit. Wake me up if you get tired, alright?”

Erwin sat back against one of the displays, wondering how he was going to spend the rest of the night. “Alright, but no spooning where the others can see you. Somebody told me that you two were professionals.”

“I don’t know who the hell that was,” Mike chuckled as he turned and fetched an empty mattress. He pulled it close to Nanaba’s, but not close enough to spoon. Just enough to hear them breathing. That would have to be enough for now.

“I’m watching you, Zacharius.”

“I’m not the one you should be watching, Smith.”

Erwin ended up playing half a game of solitaire with the deck of cards Mike had left him before he got too bored to go on and resorted to feigning sleep, making an excellent show of nodding off and rousing himself a couple of times before he settled, his chin to his chest and his face in shadow, watching the room from beneath his brows. He was curious to see what Levi would do with it, if he was in fact feigning sleep himself. He didn’t entirely expect the other man to be awake, thinking it probable that Levi would want to stay with them more than he wanted to make trouble, but Erwin had little else to do.

And it was a good thing. His acting was convincing enough, particularly in the dark, that Levi chose that moment to make his move. He silently folded the blanket back and slipped off of the mattress, taking the axe from his backpack before he slipped the bag over his shoulder. He held the weapon as he stood slowly, quietly, so as not to shift anything or make any noise.

Levi stretched his arms over his head and made his way around the mattress. When he had safely navigated his way around the sleeping soldiers, he made for the back of the store, finding the restroom first and taking the opportunity to piss before he headed into the next door. This one led into the stockroom and the back exit, where the humvee around that side of the building would be lightly guarded and out of sight from the other vehicles. It was not a promising development, and as Erwin got up to follow him, he mulled over Levi’s likely motives and settled on theft. The supplies in one vehicle, not to mention the vehicle itself, would go a long way towards helping a single person survive. It still made little sense to Erwin. If it was survival alone that interested Levi, why pass up a free ride to the Sina by armed guard? He couldn’t have been safer without taking an aircraft. The reasoning didn’t quite line up in Erwin’s head and he hoped that meant he was wrong about Levi’s intentions.

Erwin caught the thin swinging door to the stock room in one hand, watching Levi stalk towards the back with axe in hand and backpack on shoulder like he planned on going somewhere. “It’s past your bedtime, isn’t it?”

Levi whirled around, axe raised and ready to swing, though he eased and lowered it when he saw Erwin. “A bit, and I’m fucking cranky, too.”

“Can I help you find something?” Erwin asked coolly, one of his thumbs tucked through his belt loop. Incidentally, that was the belt loop that was located right over his hip holster, but his stance was deceptively casual.

“Woah,” Levi snorted, holding his free hand up. “Stand down, Commander. I was just looking for a jacket. I only got one of those shitty blankets, and if it hadn’t been for Four Eyes I wouldn’t have gotten one at all.”

“Hanji does seem to like you,” Erwin said, leaning one shoulder against the door frame as he watched Levi change course slightly to poke through a maze of plastic-wrapped shipping pallets stacked high with merchandise.

“It’s a miracle,” Levi replied blandly as he searched. He found more jeans, sweatpants, and finally a pallet of large winter coats. How these had been passed up during the many scavengings this building had endured, he wasn’t sure. He used the utility knife to cut through the plastic and pulled out the top coat. It was entirely too large for him but he seemed pleased and tugged it on anyways. The thing nearly swallowed him, but there was almost an immediate difference in temperature. He continued digging for a size better suited for him to take on the road, but the large one would be perfect for sleeping.

“Did you expect to run into Romeros back here?” Erwin asked him after a moment, his eyes falling to the axe that Levi had left sitting on top of the palette next to him. If he contemplated the man’s ass a little as he leaned across the pallet, Mike wasn’t there to read too much into it. Levi might have had sharp, unforgiving features and an alarming homicidal streak, but he certainly knew how to wear a pair of jeans and Erwin was not above admitting that to himself.

“I’ve been unpleasantly surprised too many times,” Levi replied without turning around. He dug out more coats and stacked them neatly aside until he found the one he was looking for. “Better to prepare for the worst.” It delighted him to find that the smaller coat fit under the larger one.

Levi was beginning to resemble a beige-colored Michelin Man. “I think you might could fit an extra large over those two,” Erwin observed drily.

Levi snorted. “I’m trying to stay warm, not have a heat stroke.”

“All the same, I wouldn’t challenge you to strip poker.”

“Who would want to see your bare naked ass, anyways?” Levi asked before he tidied up the mess he’d made of the supplies, Erwin looking on in amusement. So Levi was the fastidious type. “If you want to hang out back here, be my guest, but I’m going back to bed.”

“After you.” Erwin stepped back from the door to let Levi pass with a polite gesture, carefully remaining just out of swinging distance.

Levi raised an eyebrow at him, but continued through the door and back towards the mass of mattresses without a word. His grip tightened on the axe as he passed Erwin, and he spent a fraction of a second calculating his chances before he ultimately decided against it. Erwin trailed behind him silently, his eyes intense.

He didn’t even bother pretending that he wasn’t watching Levi like a hawk as he settled back in to watch. Levi appeared to prepare for sleep, wrapping the blanket snugly around himself and taking a deep breath. He released it in a sigh and seemed to sink down into the mattress, pleased with the newfound warmth.

Erwin attempted another game of solitaire and made it all the way through, just barely, though he found himself legitimately fighting sleep by the time he finished. It occurred to him to go and wake Mike so they could trade off, but exhaustion rolled over him like a wave. He hesitated just long enough to put the deck of cards away, his movements sluggish, and that was all the time it took.

Levi had been watching him closely from the cover of the thin blanket, his eyes pinned so intently to him that one would think that a commander playing solitaire in the dark was a very intense spectator sport. He was picking up on Erwin’s slowing movements and the sleepy nodding of his head even before he finished his last game, and he waited, his jaw tight and muscles tense.

When Erwin’s chin dropped to his chest, Levi waited still, watched the steady rise and fall of his chest until he was satisfied with its decline. He sat up slowly, peeled back the blanket like a cold-blooded pit viper shedding its skin. He gripped the axe, lifted it before he began making his way through the labyrinth of mattresses and bedrolls as though he were navigating a minefield.

He was so close now that he could hear Erwin’s breathing. He looked down on him, face cold and hard and teeth clenched, and watched the sleeping man. Truth be told, he was shockingly attractive, even with those piercing blue eyes closed. Despite the almost complete darkness of the inside of the store, Levi could still make out the sharp cheekbones contouring his face, his strong jawline, his dark eyebrows, pinched together even in sleep.

It really was a handsome face. It was too bad Levi was going to have to put an axe in it.

Levi took half of a step back, raised the heavy weapon above his head, calculating the way he would strike to make the least amount of noise. He stretched his fingers, one hand at a time, and tensed up in preparation to swing, but he found that he was trying to shake something. What could it be, he asked himself as he stood there, the axe raised above his head. Why was he hesitating?

Throughout his life, Levi had learned that nothing was sacred, and little was trustworthy-- circumstances, certainly, and people even less so. But if there was anything he had learned to trust, it was his gut.

With a slow, quiet exhale, he lowered the axe and crept back to his mattress, settling back onto it and setting the weapon in his lap.

Erwin didn’t even realize he’d nodded off until he heard a soft sound and looked up sharply to find Levi sitting there on the edge of his mattress, the axe lying across his knees and his eyes on Erwin's face.

Levi didn’t say a word. He’d discarded the larger jacket in the floor beside his mattress and he looked quite comfortable.

“Need some relief?” he finally asked. “I could wake Mike for you.”

Erwin pushed himself into a more upright position, refusing to let Levi see how concerned he was by his lapse. He hadn’t slept much over the past handful of weeks, but he hadn’t realized it was so bad he couldn’t control his body’s off switch. The commander turned his head slowly to work the stiffness out of it and swallowed against the dryness in his mouth. He’d been out for a little while, then. “Are you into watching people sleep?"

"I was actually looking at that case of Red Bull on the shelf behind you," Levi lied. His expression and voice were even, flat, and he didn't move his eyes from Erwin.

"What are you wanting to stay awake for? Rest. You look like you need it."

"I don't like to be watched while I sleep."

"That makes two of us. Though you didn't wake up to find a guy staring at you with an axe in his lap."

"And you aren't being watched by a guy with a gun on his hip," Levi replied with a shrug.

"There's always a gun on my hip whether I intend to use it or not." Erwin let his gaze fall to Levi's axe as though silently asking if that was where he kept it under normal, non-threatening conditions.

"Before I met you I could have said the same." Levi shifted and lowered the weapon to the floor, sensing Erwin's caution. If he was going to have any manner of success, that would have to change.

Erwin sat back against the display, but did not seem any less on guard. "Other than the Red Bull was there something you wanted?"

Levi blinked at him slowly. "A shower. An actual bed. My gun. A cigarette. Filet mignon."

"You know, if you stopped behaving so questionably most of that would be yours. If we make it back to the Sina, you are guaranteed safety and some degree of comfort." Erwin crossed his ankles. Perhaps it was time to begin anticipating some of the problems that Levi might present and heading them off before they had to find out whether or not he truly intended to present them. The first of those problems was the issue of their provisions, which Erwin was almost certain that Levi wanted despite the short-term nature of that solution.

"It isn't an option right now, staying on land," Erwin continued. "Each humvee has enough supplies for four people for four weeks or one person for four months, but that isn't any basis for a life. It's a temporary advantage and it's barely that. This isn't our country anymore and sooner or later every human who can't or won't react to that truth will be obliterated. Maybe not in four weeks or even four months. But out here we don't win."

Levi snorted quietly. "Better to thrive out here for a while than to just survive endlessly on a ship in the middle of the ocean." He pulled his knees up to his chest. "That really isn't for me. All the same ... Every day above ground is a win."

“We’re working to fix this. That’s what the military has been focusing its efforts on for the past month. The CDC and WHO laboratories are now on board the Sina and we’ve been gathering scientists to work with those organizations towards a solution. Ours isn't an empty struggle for survival. We’re pushing back.”

Levi stared at him doubtfully and sighed. "How can you be so optimistic?" he asked. "Even if the CDC and WHO do figure out all of this shit, what do you think will happen then? Whatever this is, it's going to be weaponized, and it'll be worse than it is now."

Erwin raked his fingers through his grimy hair and cringed, remembering why he didn’t do that much these days. He debated on letting the comment pass, on letting Levi go on thinking this way because it was so much better than the truth. But Erwin wouldn’t appreciate being lied to for his peace of mind. He would want to know. “North America wasn’t the only place affected by this. The WHO managed to track the outbreak to multiple origins all over the planet that occurred more or less at precisely the same time. A stupid man could understand what that means, that whatever this is, it's already been weaponized." Erwin paused as though he had finished speaking, but then something else occurred to him. "We’ve been in communication with another large group of survivors off the coast of Australia, then another from Japan and one from a handful of European countries that has been gathering in the Mediterranean. We haven't heard from anyone else in a long time. No one on land is sending communications, so we can only assume that everything is gone."

Levi was quiet for a long time after that. He hadn't exactly concerned his thoughts with other countries before, but to hear that they were likely wiped out was a shock. "How is humanity going to come back from this...?" he mused.

“Slowly. With great care.”

"It's a population. Not a perennial."

“No, it’s a great deal more complicated than a perennial, and more rests on its survival.” Erwin began collecting the remains of his solitaire game, sweeping the spread into a pile and reaching to gather them up. “However, if it is possible to come back at this point, and I believe that it is, then it will have to happen _slowly_ and _with great care_.”

"You're the most optimistic soldier I have ever met," Levi said. "To be fair, I haven't met many. Mostly National Guard. They weren't super peppy, either."

“That could have something to do with the disaster site they were cleaning up. You were there, weren’t you? After the firestorm in New York?”

"I thought you looked familiar. I could never forget a face like yours," Levi replied with another snort.

Erwin raised an eyebrow, but did not dignify the comment with a response. “You were helping us look for survivors,” he said instead, his eyes intense.

"Yeah," Levi sighed, his eyes shifting from Erwin's for the first time to look at the shelf behind him. "Not a whole lot of them."

“No, there couldn’t have been. You could tell that by looking at the damage. And yet, you were trying.”

Levi's lips tugged up in something of a bitter smile. "How could I not?"

Erwin leaned forward and set the cards on the box that Mike had been using as a card table. “Do you not feel the same way now?”

Levi's eyes met Erwin's again and his brow furrowed. "I don't know how I feel now," he replied earnestly. "All I know is that I'm going to do what it takes to stay alive. I lost the people I care about. All that's left is me."

"You won't last long that way," Erwin said, and there was nothing but absolute certainty in those words. "You may survive in the strictest sense of the word, but you'll forget how to be human. You'll have less purpose than an animal scrounging in the dirt. And then when the Romeros inevitably catch up to you, and they will, you'll die like a beast in the wilderness, alone and unremarked upon."

Silently, Levi studied Erwin's face, though he didn't respond. He wasn't sure how much he agreed or disagreed with Erwin's statement and he wasn't sure how much he cared. It was certainly food for thought, if nothing else. He looked away again, breaking his stare reluctantly.

"If you're not going to sleep, come and play cards with me. There's only so many games of solitaire a man can endure." He raised his eyebrows as if to challenge Levi, daring him to come and play a friendly game with the man he was, in all likelihood, plotting against.

Levi paused and pursed his lips. He was uninterested, but the more amiable he could be, the better. He stood and quietly navigated through the field of mattresses until he finally sat on the other side of Erwin's box. He took the deck in hand and shuffled it expertly. "What do you play? Any kinds of poker? Speed based games? Pick your poison."

"I play poker, blackjack ... go fish." There was humor in his face.

"I'll let you pick this one, Commander."

Erwin took the deck Levi offered him and dealt them each a hand of five since they had nothing to bet with and go fish was about the only other thing he knew how to play. He set the deck between them and picked up his cards.

Levi searched through his hand and hummed to himself. "Any fours?"

"Go fish." He didn't think he had played this game since elementary school. It was funny the stupid, useless things your mind held on to.

"Fuck," Levi grumbled as he drew. He tucked the new card neatly and meticulously into his hand.

"Kings?" Erwin asked.

Levi stared at his hand. His eyes paused and he chuckled before he slid a card out and handed over the King of Spades. "Queens?"

“No queens. Unfortunately,” Erwin said, adding his own King of Hearts to Levi’s Spade and laying the pair down in front of him.

"You sure?" Levi asked, glancing up at Erwin with a smirk. He took another card and inspected it before he placed it down with another four.

Erwin snorted. “None that you can have, anyway. How about eights?”

"Yeah, you wish you had a queen in your hand," Levi growled, handing over an eight.

Erwin laughed, startled by Levi’s easy crudeness. “Tonight seems to be the night everyone chose to comment upon my relationship status.”

“I just find it funny that your officers saw fit to comment on it with the centerfolds they taped over your seat, that’s all.”

“It wasn’t their intention to be hostile. Nanaba isn’t a model of heteronormativity themselves, you might have noticed.”

"I'm not trying to be hostile either. You sound threatened."

“Threatened?” Erwin hadn’t been aware that he sounded any way at all. He didn’t feel particularly threatened. “I’m not sure I catch your meaning.”

“You just seem a little defensive when someone you don’t know questions your sexuality, that’s all.”

“Oh, I see. Is that what you were doing?” Erwin lowered his cards into his lap, his eyes bright with amusement. “You want to know for sure if I bat for your team? I don’t advertize it to my men because they have no business speculating about my sexual or romantic entanglements at all, but I have no problem admitting to anyone else that I’m exclusively gay.”

Levi snorted at that, betraying some humor. "And here I was having so much fun picking on you."

“Is that what you call it?” Erwin asked. “I thought you were fishing for information.”

"If I was actually interested, I would have asked."

Erwin raised his cards and smirked at Levi over his hand. “You seem like an intelligent man. I’m sure you know better than to believe that anything would come of asking at all.” Levi shrugged, disinterested.

For some time after that, their only conversation involved the steady back and forth of cards being exchanged. Erwin had gathered quite the pile in front of him before anyone spoke again.

"About the guy I killed," Levi said slowly, and it was clear in his tone that his words stuck in his throat, refusing to come out easily. "I'm sorry about that. I mean ... I'm not sorry I killed him--he was an immediate danger. But I am sorry that it disturbed you and your subordinates."

Erwin looked at him seriously over the top of his cards. "If we subscribed to the same ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ policy that you do, we’d have shot you several times over."

“I never directly threatened any of your company. That man had Hanji in a chokehold and was perfectly prepared to fire. There is a difference there, Commander,” Levi insisted.

“You’re right. One is far more dangerous than the other. Violence stemming from fear ends when a person is no longer afraid, but watchful, premeditated violence is subtler, more easily concealed, and it isn’t so easily reasoned with.”

“You’re reading too much into it. This is a new world with people trying to relearn the rules. When you pit yourself so completely against someone, you’re gambling. He gambled, he lost.”

Erwin wasn’t sure that Levi was picking up on the subtle hint he was dropping. I suspect you. But the other man had to have recognized his mistrust at least. They were dancing around each other too much for Levi to be altogether ignorant. “I can appreciate that viewpoint,” Erwin began, “and how it must have saved your life in the past. But you’re not by yourself anymore. You’re a part of a group--a group with a clearly defined, stable hierarchy. Nanaba was angry when they spoke to you earlier, but they were also correct when they said that killing the man who threatened Hanji wasn’t your choice to make.”

Levi looked from his hand to Erwin. “Can we just agree to disagree? I did what I thought, at the time, to be the wisest choice in the long run. My bad.”

“I understand that, but that’s what I’m here for--to make those kinds of decisions so that we don’t spend all of our time tripping over each other. I don’t ask that you change your viewpoint, only the way you act on it. Is that possible for you?”

Levi didn't look away from Erwin for a solid few seconds before he finally looked back to his cards. "Yeah."

“Then we don’t have a problem.” It was largely untrue of course. Erwin still wasn’t sure if they had a problem, but he supposed they did have one less problem. If Levi’s agreement had been sincere.

"Mm," Levi hummed. "Nines?"

Erwin was slow to lower his eyes, but when he did, he huffed a minimalistic laugh. “Go fish.”

Levi drew from the pile and set down a couple of Jacks.

Before they finished that game, Nanaba shuffled over with a blanket draped around their shoulders, looking bleary-eyed and yawning without covering their mouth. “I’ll take over so you can sleep a little,” they said, holding their hand out for Erwin’s cards. “Get ready, Baby Face. I’m about to take you down hard.” They didn’t look like they were ready to take anyone down at anything, hard or otherwise.

Levi didn’t even look up at Nanaba before he put the cards down on the table and stood. “Night, Blondie, Thing Two,” he said before he headed back to his own mattress.

Nanaba paused, reeling with the suddenness of his exit, but they recovered quickly enough to call out to him quietly, “Come back here, you coward! I’ll bite your legs off.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for reading and leaving kudos and comments! We like to know how we're doing and appreciate the feedback. If you do the tumblr thing we keep [a blog](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com) over there with all of our extras and update information and such.


	5. Nervous Ticks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The company encounters a whole new set of problems in Niagara and Levi manages to be a bigger pain in the ass than the Romeros.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: "Sucky Suck Spider Things," which comes from [here](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com/post/116844260474/have-you-ever-spouted-off-an-obscure-fact-and-the).
> 
> Thanks to [Mandy](http://harmony386.tumblr.com) for beta reading this chapter!

Erwin did ultimately manage to sleep for a couple of hours, his exhaustion catching up with him and driving out any lingering concerns about waking up to sounds of bloody murder. When Nanaba woke him just before dawn with a swift kick to the air mattress, he was actually feeling the slightest bit less sleep deprived--not well-rested by any means but he was less at risk of being mistaken for a Romero and winding up shot. “Anything interesting happen?” he asked, rolling off the mattress and greeting the chilly morning air with stoicism born of long practice.

“Nah, I think he was actually sleeping,” Nanaba reported, and Erwin didn’t tell them that was what he had thought too. He just slid on his boots and nodded at the other blonde.

“Start getting everyone up. We’re going to have to get rolling if we’re going to make it through Niagara by dusk.”

Mike had already begun stirring those who were harder to wake - Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Eren, particularly.

Petra seemed to have risen with the sun and she was the one to approach Levi despite Auruo's protestations. First, she nudged Hanji’s shoulder gently, then stepped over to shake Levi’s mattress, not daring to actually touch him. “Wake up,” she said. “We’re moving out.”

Levi sat up as if he had already been awake, quickly and fluidly. He’d been floating in and out of consciousness since Mike’s rough tactics with Jean had woken him. He pulled on the extra jacket with a yawn.

“Gather up your bedroll and go ahead and get into humvee one,” Erwin told Hanji, who mumbled groggily and seemed about to roll back over when they remembered Levi and shot bolt upright, glancing over to find him already awake.

“Did you talk to Erwin last night?” Hanji glanced over at the blonde. He was already moving away to tend to Eren, who seemed to be enjoying Levi’s air mattress idea a bit too much, curled tightly around his twisted up blanket and barely affected by Mike’s previous rounds.“Are you coming with us?” They were a bit distracted by the way Erwin seemed to reach down, pluck Eren out of the bed and set him on his feet all while barely breaking his stride. The brunet looked around, bewildered, like he wasn’t sure what had just happened.

“To be honest,” Levi replied, watching Erwin as he went about repeating the gesture with Connie, who saluted sleepily as he toppled back onto the mattress and hopped back up. “I’m not really sure.”

Looking at the commander, Hanji knew that it wouldn’t be easy to catch him until he was good and ready to be caught. Erwin seemed to be talking to everyone at once, ordering Krista to bring the humvee from the other side of the building and Ymir to check their tire pressure while simultaneously motioning to Connie that his left boot went on his other foot. Only towards the tail end of the flurry of activity did Erwin finally slow down enough to pull Levi aside.

“You know our goal and our destination,” he said briskly, obviously not interested in any foot-dragging. “Do you intend to be on one of those ships or not?”

“I am,” Levi replied without hesitation.

“No bullshit, then. You will exist harmoniously with this company until we reach the Sina. You will not give anyone trouble. You will certainly not act on your own as you did last night. I do not ask that you like or respect our way of doing things, but if you can’t take orders then I at least need you to stay out of the way so the others can see to theirs. Are these terms acceptable to you?”

“They are.” Levi lied smoothly. He wasn’t sure if his discussion with Erwin the night before had changed his mind or not, but as long as he was alive and still within reach of those supplies and humvees, he could decide later.

“Then collect your belongings and join Hanji in humvee one.” Erwin turned and immediately set out to find Mike and Nanaba to let them know what had transpired. They were loading their bedrolls into the back of humvee one, moving crates around to leave a space in between them for someone to sleep. If Erwin had to relieve Mike later that day, they would likely need it. Nanaba was repositioning the extra roll when Erwin reached them, lowering his voice so Levi wouldn’t overhear. “He’s coming with us so I'll need both of you to help keep an eye on him. He’s agreed to cooperate, but he’s given us little reason to trust him.”

“Then …” Nanaba was scowling unhappily. “Sorry, Commander, but _why_ is he coming with us if you have doubts?”

“I’ve seen enough wasted life,” Erwin told them, making eye contact with each so his seriousness was clear, “especially when we don’t have a lot of lives to spare. We’re an endangered species now. We can’t afford to throw people away so recklessly. Not without a firm reason.”

Mike pursed his lips, but offered no protest. He nodded and closed the back of the humvee. “Will he be in one with us, or should he be in with Nanaba or Mikasa?” His question was answered though when Levi, backpack over his shoulder and neatly folded air mattress under his arm, hopped into his previous seat in humvee one without a word.

Mike watched quietly and looked back at Erwin. “I am a patient man, but I don’t know if I can handle that all the way to New Haven.”

“I trust Nanaba and Ackerman, but I prefer to keep an eye on him myself. He also has a soft spot for Hanji so I want them together as much as possible to firm up his loyalty to the rest of us. Sorry Mike. It looks like your fortitude will be tested. Nanaba, brief the others on the situation with Levi and let them know that they will need to be extra careful with their firearms and their vehicles until further notice.”

Mike let out a long sigh, obviously displeased, but he nodded in understanding and went to supervise the younger soldiers, Nanaba trailing after him with even less enthusiasm. Ymir appeared beside Erwin to let him know that the tire pressure on all the humvees was fine and that humvee three could use a little maintenance, but it could wait until they reached Niagara. Erwin nodded and went to make sure that Mike hadn’t left the keys in the ignition.

He had. Levi’s eyes were on them, but he was quick to look away when Erwin came to the door. He considered getting out and helping the others pack up as something of a show of good will, but considering that they hadn’t liked him enough to give him a blanket, he decided against it.

Erwin didn't make a big show of reclaiming the keys. He just casually stepped up into the vehicle and retrieved his map from the dashboard where he'd left it, grabbing the labeled keyring as he withdrew to the passenger seat.

"It's really too bad the world ended," Hanji observed. "You won't have much use for all these maps you're memorizing once we get to the Sina."

"If we get there at all I won't consider the effort wasted."

“Why do you keep studying them?” Levi asked. “Do you not have a route planned already?”

"I'm memorizing alternate routes well as the primary one in case I lose the map."

“Well,” Levi mumbled, “at least we know we won’t be stuck in some Blair Witch bullshit.”

"I think it's safe to say that we are better outfitted than they were," Erwin replied drily. "And a good deal less hysterical."

The rest of the ride was relatively peaceful. Levi played solitaire on the platform between his seat and Hanji’s and he only occasionally made sounds of frustration, Hanji occasionally glancing over and offering input that he showed no sign of acknowledging. Mike was even more silent than usual as he drove, though it was unclear whether it was from sleep deprivation or irritation at Levi’s presence. The roads were still packed so they had to stop several times to tow, slowing them down significantly, but the living dead had hardly presented much of a problem. As they grew closer to the tourist town, though, they increased in number and forced Mike over onto the narrow shoulder.

They reached the town just before dusk as the sun was inching its way into the treeline. Erwin was pleasantly surprised to see that the undead were largely confined to the opposite side of the river, but the roar of the falls made him nervous.

"Why weren't more Romeros drawn to this area by the sound?" he wondered aloud. Niagara was certainly the loudest thing for miles in every direction. "Last time we were here we barely made it through."

"I was just wondering that myself," Hanji said. "You said there were a lot of Romeros in this area on your way up, but there have also been many vehicles in the lots we passed. Perhaps those Romeros were here when they turned. I have two ideas just off the top of my head. I'd guess it's either the low frequency that fails to interest them or the continuous nature of the sound."

"Why would the continuity make a difference?" Erwin asked.

"It would take a Romero time to close the distance between itself and any sound that carries a long way. Perhaps the fact that the sound doesn't change causes them to grow accustomed to it, dismissing it in the same way your nose dismisses a continuous smell or you tune out white noise."

Erwin made a thoughtful sound. Whatever the reason was, the majority of the Romeros appeared to have been moving away from Niagara, wandering from the falls rather than towards them as one might expect. "It's logical."

"Of course it is." Hanji grinned at his reflection in the rearview.

The area leading to the visitor center was largely clear of Romeros with only a small, manageable handful of exceptions. Erwin instructed Mike to drive them around the center itself when they reached it and give it a good look from the outside before he was willing to decide whether or not he wanted to risk spending the night there, so they turned and followed the trail of helpful signs along the road in that direction. "It looks like Nanaba may be able to get a post card after all."

As they came up on the landmark, Levi looked out of the window at the Falls, or what could be seen of them, up ahead. He hadn’t passed through here in his rush to Toronto and had only visited Niagara briefly when he was younger and had found it disinteresting. Now though, with the sun playing off of the water and the crowds gone, it was significantly more appealing.

They approached the falls from upstream, passing yet another promising-looking parking lot full of vehicles and crossing over a small section of still water that had been sectioned off from the river by a retaining wall for some unknown, man-made purpose. Hanji was thrilled, pressing their nose to the window and calling out, "Commander! That would be a good place to check everyone for biting insects. We could use the opportunity to clean up while we're at it too."

In an uncharacteristic display of diplomacy, they did not mention Levi specifically despite the fact that he was still emanating a definite undead smell.

Erwin turned in his seat to look where the doctor was pointing, but he didn't say anything, giving the doctor a chance to continue, which they were more than happy to do. "I believe it would be prudent," they said. "If we find biting insects or arachnids like fleas or ticks on any of your men it could indicate that Romero blood is not infectious. Of course, it could just as easily mean that those particular creatures have not come into contact with any Romeros. All the same, if we discover any hitchhikers apart from Levi, I would like to collect them for further analysis. And in Levi's case, since he has been in the woods, a biting organism on his person could be a more immediate threat, particularly if it's a tick and he accidentally causes it trauma and it vomits its stomach contents back into his system."

Erwin glanced at Levi in the rear view mirror, his brow furrowed. "Mike, continue to the visitor center first and circle around to make sure there isn't a large herd on the other side. If the building is closed up we can hold off clearing it until we've finished running our bug check." Scouting the immediate area, however, was vital. He wouldn't want to have to fight off a pack of ravenous undead monsters in the nude and he had a feeling his men would share that sentiment. He took the radio and told the others to follow Mike closely, though he didn't go into detail. He was going to let Hanji do the explaining on this one.

Levi looked at Hanji and, although he was concerned, his expression and tone were even. “I guess those tweezers are going to come in handy, then … Doesn’t alcohol make ticks let go?”

"Absolutely not!" Hanji cried. "Applying alcohol to a tick is not only completely ineffectual, but it could also make them vomit. You should only remove them with tweezers. There's a bit of a technique to it, but it isn't difficult."

"Even so, we'll tell everyone not to remove any insects they find and to stand by until you can handle it yourself," Erwin told them, and Hanji seemed mostly satisfied by this, sitting back in their seat with a sigh.

"Ticks are arachnids, though," they pointed out after a moment.

“Ugh, if you find one of those sucky spiders on me, I think _I’ll_ be the one vomiting.” Levi turned to the window again as Mike pulled up to the visitor center.

The humvees circled around and found no hordes, no Romeros, and not even any signs of forced entry. Mike stopped at the back entrance and looked to Erwin. “We could be setting up a perimeter here and send down small groups for baths and bug checks,” he proposed.

"Insects or arachnids," Hanji corrected. "Bugs only refers to insects in the order Hemiptera."

“Can I go by myself?” Levi asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer.

"If shit hits, I want the group as tight as possible," Erwin answered, ignoring both Hanji and Levi in favor of responding to the more immediate issue. The visitor center was a good distance from where they would be bathing, but the parking lot was close by so they could afford to multitask just a little. "We'll block off each end of the bridge with a humvee and send the other two across the street to the parking lot for diesel, then trade them off. When we clear the visitor center everyone should be together."

Mike nodded and took up the radio, relaying the instructions to the others. “Humvee two, follow me to the bridge. Everyone else, to the parking lot.”

Once Mike pulled them around and got the area blocked off, Erwin hopped down from the vehicle and waited for everyone to gather in the middle. "Everyone pair off. The doctor has proposed a precaution that I want to enact immediately." He nodded to Hanji and let them take over, explaining the insect situation and how they would like to be sure that everyone was clean.

"If you find anything on you or your partner, don't touch it," Hanji finished. "Call it out and I will come and remove it in the appropriate manner. I don't want any of you damaging my specimens ... or raising your odds of infection, I guess. Don't forget to look particularly hard at any place where the skin folds, like between toes, behind ears, check scalps _thoroughly_." They watched humvee two awkwardly attempting to settle on who would be looking into who's crevices. "I will go last in case something jumps to me while I'm collecting samples from the others."

Erwin nodded. "I assume that Mike and Nanaba will be pairing off, so that leaves the three of us. I'm okay with you checking me, doctor. Levi, I'm assuming you would also prefer Hanji to the rest of us?"

“I would prefer no one,” Levi sighed, “but if you insist, I’ll let Hanji check me over. Let’s get this over with, I need that bath.”

"Alright, Son, drop your trousers," Hanji said, far more amused than the situation warranted and earning themselves a glower from Levi.

"I'll take watch while you get him situated," Erwin told them, taking a radio and climbing up through the humvee to open the hatch on the roof. They'd moved their humvee's rifle from the back floorboard to the front seat after Levi's arrival and Erwin retrieved it then, hoisting himself out onto the roof and perching there with the rifle tucked against his shoulder, watching through the scope.

"Jeager, there's a Romero in the parking lot at your four o'clock," he said into the radio. "Coming around the side of the silver SUV. Quit hitting Kirchstein with the gasoline siphon and take care of it."

"Roger that, Sir!" came the sheepish reply.

When Erwin was clear of their immediate sight, Levi pursed his lips at Hanji. “I think I’ll be able to check myself just fine,” he said, slipping his shirt over his head.

"No such luck, I'm afraid. This is for your sake as well as theirs. If it makes you feel better, I've seen so many bodies at this point that it makes no difference to me what they look like. It's all just flesh and muscle." Hanji snapped open their specimen case so it was ready in the event they found something.

“I’m not _self-conscious_ ,” Levi growled in response. “I don’t like to be _touched_.” All the same, he began to slide out of his pants, though gingerly.

"I'll keep the touching to a bare minimum," Hanji promised. "Only when I absolutely have to." They leaned against the side of the humvee and waited for Levi to finish undressing.

Levi folded the jeans and set them aside, though he didn't bother with the shirt or underwear - he'd snagged some in Academy and after he got bathed he would certainly be in all clean clothes. He scanned what was immediately visible and found nothing concerning, and then he set about running his hands through his hair and checking as much of himself as possible. The thought of a _tick_ on him was repulsive enough, but coupled with unwelcome touches it was almost unbearable.

Hanji was as clinical as they promised they'd be, searching Levi briskly and matter-of-factly from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes, only speaking enough to give him instructions. "Bend down. Hold still. Turn." Then when they'd finished the front, Hanji repeated the whole procedure at the back of him. Levi’s discomfort was incredibly clear, accentuated by the way his muscles tensed with every touch until he was more tightly wound than a cheap toy.

When they reached the back of his head where his shaved undercut fell into shadow beneath the longer pieces of his hair, they paused, leaning closer. "Yep, you have a deer tick here. I'd have been surprised if you'd made it through the woods without picking up anything at all." And disappointed, their tone indicated. They stepped back to retrieve a pair of tweezers from their specimen kit.

"What?" Levi stepped away quickly and reached up to feel the back of his head. Sure enough, he could feel it - a tiny, swollen speck on the back of his head. "Shit ... Hold up, I'll get it myself," he said. He wasn't panicking. He wasn't. But he didn't want anyone pulling this disgusting, dangerous thing off for him. His skin was crawling and his nerves felt like they were on fire and he shivered and fought the urge to scratch the thing off. The thought of its little head stuck in him, sucking at his blood was stomach-turning.

"Hey, wait! Be careful not to injure him! I can pull him off properly if you just hold still." Hanji reached out and put a hand on Levi's shoulder, hoping to steady him.

"Don't touch me," Levi growled, jerking his shoulder away for Hanji almost violently. He instantly regretted his roughness, knowing that Hanji was only trying to help, but the combined disgust at the tick and at the thought of someone else’s hands all over his naked body was entirely too unpleasant.

Mike was there in seconds. He was still only half dressed himself when he grabbed hold of Levi. "Hanji said stay still, so stay still."

"Ugh, get _off!_ " Levi snarled as he struggled, managing to wrestle free of Mike as well.

"What's happening?" Erwin called down, looking over the edge of the roof and getting a good eyeful of Levi's naked ass as he slipped out of Mike's grip. He also caught a flash of black along his upper back that looked like it could have been a tattoo, but Erwin didn't get a proper look at it before Levi turned, giving him an immediate eyeful of his front as well.

Ah.

The commander wasn’t about to intentionally check Levi out without an invitation that he didn’t want anyway, but he couldn’t help appreciating the small amount he did see as a result of that brief glance. Hanji didn’t seem interested in anyone’s nakedness. They only looked up at Erwin, exasperated. "I found a tick, that's all. He isn't handling it very well. I'm serious, Levi, don't touch that!"

The others were drifting closer, drawn by the sounds of urgency. They kept a respectful distance, but obviously intended to be ready in case the commander needed them. Also half naked, Nanaba scowled down their nose at Levi as they strode up, apparently comfortable with half of their body on full display. "What did you do this time?"

"I didn't do shit," Levi growled. "Back off, Four-Eyes. Don’t touch me,” he repeated, feeling more and more like a broken record. “I will take care of the tick." He could feel his stomach turning dangerously with anxiety. He almost felt silly - being so bothered not only or even primarily by the bug, but by the thought of being held in place.

"Levi, I'm sorry, but you can't see what you're doing. I can't let you risk further infection by damaging the tick. I'll make it quick. It doesn't hurt."

"Christ," Nanaba drawled. "He's like a five year old with a splinter."

Levi didn't dignify the comment with a response, but instead focused on staying out of Hanji's reach. "Look, I mean it. I can handle it," he insisted, the anger still fresh in his voice.

Mike grabbed him again, holding his arms behind his back. "This could be the difference between life and death. Hold still--" He'd barely gotten the words out of his mouth before Levi flung him against the humvee and the air was knocked out of him.

"Nanaba," Erwin called sharply, mostly to forestall the violence that would undoubtedly break out if Nanaba in their anger attempted to join the fray. "On watch."

There was ferocity in the captain's eyes when they looked up at Erwin but they nodded, under control. Erwin ducked back into the humvee and traded off with them, handing the rifle over and stepping out of the humvee. He would let Mike finish what he started if he was able, only stepping in if he needed to, but he wanted to be down there as a precaution.

Levi was momentarily distracted by Nanaba and Erwin changing positions and by the aftermath of completely snapping, and that was all the opening Mike needed. He grabbed Levi and twirled him around, using his momentum to throw him face first into the humvee and pin him there. Stuck literally between a rock and a hard place, nauseated and disoriented, Levi struggled but was ultimately unsuccessful.

“Doctor, if you please,” Mike grunted.

Hanji darted forward, tweezers at the ready, but when they reached the pair of them, they hesitated. "I'm sorry, Mike, but you're going to have to keep his head still. Levi, please settle down. This is for your own sake."

“I’m gonna puke …” Levi warned.

Erwin silently stepped forward and slipped his hands beneath Mike's arms to hold Levi's head more securely against the humvee door. Up close like this, he could clearly see the dark feathers inked into Levi's skin. The black lines spread across his shoulders in highly intricate patterns, fanning out across the backs of his arms and giving the illusion of spread wings when they were lifted as they were now. Erwin had never seen wings inked in quite that way, not that he had seen a large sampling of tattoo options or paid much attention to the specific designs on people’s bodies as he passed them in the street.

"Your wings are very well done," he commented. He wasn't an artist or a consumer of such things, but even he could tell that this was good work.

Levi legitimately seemed startled at the change of topic, and his brow furrowed as he looked at Erwin. Then, with a sharp pricking sensation, he could feel the tick’s disgusting, tiny head being extracted from his skin. He almost lost it right then, imagining the crawling, squirming monster being pulled from him forcefully, legs wiggling and mouth gaping.

“Get off of me,” he finally demanded, shoving against them again, his eyes finding a small metal trash bin not three yards from him.

"He's out, I have him!" Hanji said, backpedaling quickly with their precious specimen. "Good news. He looks to be in tact so I don't think we gave him any reason to eject his stomach contents into your body. By the look of him he hasn't been on you for a terribly long time either, so your risk of infection is minimal even if he was previously feeding on a Romero."

That said, Erwin let go of Levi and motioned for Mike to do the same, though he did stay between the doctor their tick-free patient. It was an unnecessary precaution. The man was immediately at the trashcan, emptying his mostly empty stomach into the plastic liner and clutching at the sides with a white-knuckled grip.

"Aww, look at that. He's so tidy, even when no one gives a shit where he pukes." Hanji dropped Levi's squirmy hitchhiker into a small specimen jar and sealed it tightly, holding it up to their eye and squinting at it as proudly as though they had given gross, Frankensteinian life to the thing themselves. "We're going to have to check his temperature. He's probably just reacting to the idea of the tick, but we can't bank on that for certain. We need to rule out infection."

"I'm not fucking infected," Levi said in as harsh a tone as his raw throat could handle. He stood and spit into the trashcan. "I'm disgusted. I'm taking the first bath because I'm not bathing in any of your filth."

"It's a big river," Nanaba snapped. But Erwin motioned for them to be quiet.

"Let Hanji take your temperature first," the commander said firmly. "Nobody wants to repeat the last five minutes, but we will if we have to."

Levi glowered at him but didn't protest. "Hurry it up," he growled at Hanji.

"Alright. Since you just threw up I'm going to stick it under your arm." Hanji didn't seem terribly offended by his short temper. They only went back to their kit and pulled a thermometer from a small plastic container, offering Levi his fresh underwear without so much as blinking. "Sorry they had to restrain you," they told him. "But the tick was removed safely so I guess I’m not that sorry."

Levi snatched the underwear and thermometer away without a word. He slipped the boxers on before sticking the thermometer under his arm and holding it down. He crossed his arms over his bare chest, too angry and proud to even allow the shivers that threatened to shake him. When the thermometer beeped he offered it to Hanji without looking. "Between 96 and 97. I'll bet the clean damn underwear."

"One hundred point two." Hanji waited for his face to change before adding. "Just kidding. You're 97.8." They grinned at him and leaned in to whisper. "I'm about to check Erwin if you want to hang back and tease him a little. See if you can make him turn red."

"All I want," Levi replied, "is for you to shove that thing so far up his ass that his breath smells like my pits."

"Eh. If I did that I might not get it back for a while and I may need to use it on someone else."

Levi just sighed and gathered his backpack for the second time. "Bath time," he said, peering over the edge of the bridge. "Is there an incline or anything ...?"

"Ish. There’s enough of one that we're gonna have to pull people back up."

Levi nodded but he was already stepping over the rail as Hanji spoke.

The water was icy and unforgiving, but well-worth the immediate feeling of near-cleanliness. Levi thoroughly soaked his hair and scrubbed all of the gunk out of it that he could manage before he even opened the bottle of the scentless soap Hanji had given him. Remembering the other bottles, he was very liberal with it, coating his hair and the tops of his shoulders before he began lathering up. He paid special attention to the spot on the back of his head, as if he could still feel the tick there.

He was shivering and slowly turning blue before Mike finally got around to lowered the rope for him, but he didn’t particularly mind.

"No more than two at a time," Nanaba was telling the others. "If people start going numb and sinking to the bottom I don't want to have to choose whose ass to save."

Evidently Hanji had finished with Erwin and he was back on watch. The doctor was over with Auruo, combing through his hair with a scowl of intense concentration on their face. Or that might have been disappointment. They can't have expected to find much on the soldiers, as there hadn't been much opportunity for them to pick anything up. When Hanji finished with the bored-looking man, Auruo and Eld went down together. They each took significantly shorter baths than Levi, but it took twice as long to haul them up. When Petra and Gunther went down, Levi came out of the back of the humvee and helped Mike, hauling up Petra himself and carefully helping her over the edge.

"Thank you," she smiled tentatively as Levi dropped her hand.

When Hanji paused long enough to glance up from the sweet lure of ectoparasites, they whistled. "Damn, you clean up nice! Much better when you're not rocking the Romero gore." Levi was almost a different person in clean clothes with his dark hair slicked back out of his face. No one looked like a million bucks at the end of the world, but Levi looked a good twenty above everyone else, at least in comparison to his previous appearance.

Hanji wasn't the only one to notice this either. Erwin had to agree, apocalypse chic was not Levi's best look, and now that he wasn't wearing it the man was fairly striking, all those sharp angles seeming less gaunt and corpse-like on a cleaner face. He still wasn’t exactly handsome, but he _was_ attractive.

"Thanks," Levi said quietly. He didn't have the energy to appreciate the compliment - not after he'd already been the center of attention once today. He stayed on the bridge and helped to lift clean soldiers one by one over the edge as they finished up. "You ought to see me after an actual shower."

"And you'll have an actual shower soon. If you would only behave," Mike said, casting him a sideways glance. Levi did not reply.

"He'll behave!" Hanji called confidently from their place by the humvee. "Now all of you get out of here. I want to see if I have any better luck with the others." They actually rubbed their hands together, reminding everyone that mad science was alive and real.

“You know, Thing One,” Levi said as he slid into the back seat of the humvee, “I snagged some razors in Academy …”

“I’m keeping the beard.”

“Well, in case you change your mind.”

"I've got a field kit for things like that," Erwin said, stepping down from the passenger seat. It was also about time for him to make use of those particular items. In his haste to get out the door, Erwin hadn't taken the time to shave before they left Academy. He looked forward to smoothing out his face the next morning, rubbing an anticipatory hand across his prickly jaw. "Go ahead and trade off with humvees three and four. I'm staying here to supervise." He hadn't bathed yet and would also do so last just in case Hanji needed him to help hold anyone else down.

“Roger,” Mike said simply before he drove off and led the other humvee to the parking lot.

Humvee one pulled to a stop a fair bit away from two, where there were cars that three and four had not reached yet. Levi sat still, unwilling to get out and dirty himself again after he’d just bathed. Mike whirled around in his seat to face him.

“I don’t know exactly what you’re planning, and I don’t know what you’ve done to convince the commander that it’s okay for you to join us,” he started. Levi blinked at him, apparently unperturbed by the harshness. “But I’m not convinced in the least, Short Stuff. I’ve got my eye on you, and Nanaba does, too, and you would do well to remember that before you try anything.”

“Your gas tank is almost empty,” Levi replied smoothly.

The two exchanged unwavering stares for a while before Mike finally spoke up again. “Out. Like hell I’m leaving you in here.” He was shocked to see that Levi complied, sliding out of the humvee and propping against it with his arms folded across his chest while Mike exited and locked the vehicle.

"Look at that. He can follow instructions," Nanaba quipped. "Do you know how to tell diesel from gasoline?"

“I don’t,” Levi replied simply but firmly. He did know the difference. He wouldn’t be siphoning it.

"Tch. Figures. Come on, I'll teach you."

“Sorry, I’m not a quick learner.” He didn’t move from his spot against the humvee.

"Apparently not." Nanaba rolled their eyes, but they didn't have time to spare pressing the issue. The light was becoming bluer as dusk geared up to get the night going. They turned and left Levi standing there, carrying a gas can and a siphon with them.

The last bits of sunlight were beginning to fade by the time everyone had bathed and the humvees formed their loose barricade around the tourist center. It was huge, but seemingly untouched by gore and violence for the most part.

“Uh, Commander?” Jean said, sheepishly approaching Erwin. “The water supply for humvee three is running a bit low. Will we have time in the morning to replenish it?”

"You haven't been keeping track of your supplies?" Erwin asked, obviously unimpressed by the news. The whole group had been over by the river filling their water tanks from the river and it would have been a simple matter for humvee three to gather water while they'd been there. "We can't count on conditions tomorrow morning being favorable. You'll have to get it now. Take a radio and I'll post a second watch to keep an eye on your six."

"Yessir," Jean said, careful not to show his disappointment. He turned to Eren then and beckoned for him to join him.

Equipped with a couple of mostly-empty five gallon water containers, they set out for a nearby bank, forced to walk a good ways back upstream to bypass the Horseshoe falls and get to a portion of the river they could physically access. Levi followed them out the door but stayed within the perimeter. He leaned against the stone wall and lit up a cigarette and took a deep puff of it.

Ymir followed not long after that, climbing silently into the vehicle with Gunther to act as an extra set of eyes for the boys.

The dark-headed girl scanned the immediate area through the scope of her rifle, watching the corners of the squatty maintenance buildings and the cars that were parallel parked along the street. "Boys," she said about the time they hit the water. "You've got a couple on your three, but they shouldn't be a problem. Just don't dally."

"I'll take care of them!" Eren radioed back.

"No, hey, Eren, don't ... Shit!" Gunther hissed. He squinted at the scene through his own scope. "There's a horde coming around those buildings there."

It started as a small trickle, just a couple of bodies appearing from blind spots around the cluster of out buildings. Ymir and Gunther clearly saw Jean glance over his shoulder and dismiss them, leaving them to Eren as he continued to fill containers.

But then things began to snowball rapidly.

“Commander, we got trouble,” Ymir announced over the radio. The coms had a way of emphasizing her complete and utter indifference to the situation they were about to find themselves in. “It’s basically a wall of Romeros.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Living Things_ is part of the [Attack on Zombie](http://attack-on-zombie) project. We've loved hearing from you guys both here and on the blog, so don't be shy if you want to drop us a line. =D


	6. On Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the situation with Levi finally comes to a head, Levi and Erwin find themselves at rock bottom.

Erwin wasn’t far from the front doors when Ymir delivered the news. The timing couldn’t be more unfortunate, scattered as everyone was throughout the visitor center. Over half of the soldiers were moving through the building in small clusters, carefully clearing every nook and cranny while a small handful of others positioned humvees into as secure a perimeter as they could manage. None of the many entrances had been fortified--likely the swinging glass doors hadn’t even been locked, and there were only six people at the front, one of which was to be protected at all costs and the other not to be trusted with firearms. That brought their functional number down to four.

“Jean, Eren, are you out ahead of the Romeros?” Erwin was headed for humvee two where that’d parked it a short distance from the front, but he paused, catching a glimpse of the gathering shitstorm over the hood. It wasn’t the biggest horde he’d ever seen, but it was a horde and it was large enough to ruin their day several times over.

“Roger that,” Jean added, sounding out of breath. “And roger on the wall of dead folks. That is absolutely what it is. I hate to be the bearer of bad news and everything, but we might be a little short on water tonight because Eren and I dropped our tremendous haul to haul ass instead. Sorry, team."

“Don’t come in through the front,” Erwin warned him urgently, stepping sideways to put the humvee between himself and the horde. Romeros had been human once and that limited them to human senses. Therefore, a good rule of thumb to follow was the general ‘if you can see them, they can see you’ principle. “You’ll draw them to the weakest section of our perimeter. Get around the side of the building and into one of the humvees. Can you do that before they turn the corner and see where you went?”

“Shit, there’s no telling, Commander. I haven’t looked back in several minutes.”

“It looks like you have a little space to work with,” Gunther reported. “You’re a little faster than they are, so you’ll have gained some ground by the time you get here.”

“Just don’t trip,” Ymir snorted, “cause I ain’t no hero.” All the same, she switched from her binoculars to her rifle, willing at least to provide cover fire if it became necessary.

Hanji appeared at Erwin’s side, squinting at the approaching boys and the snapping, staggering chaos that had fallen into step behind them. “What drew them all here?” they wondered, their head turning as their eyes searched the direction they’d all come from. “They can’t have heard us over the sound of the falls and if my theory about that was incorrect this area would be absolutely covered up in Romeros.”

“Doctor,” Erwin pulled Hanji out of the direct line of sight. “I need you to go back inside and find the other groups. Tell them to secure any doors they find and come straight to the front.”

Hanji peered unhappily around the corner of the humvee, reluctant to leave such an interesting scene, but they had to recognize the logic in Erwin’s instructions. Hanji was the most vulnerable of them and far too precious to pit against the Romeros out here. Sending anyone else would cut their numbers. It was sensible.

The doctor nodded tightly.

Erwin had little energy to spare thinking of Hanji’s happiness right then, his eyes skimming quickly over the approaching horde and the two boys who were leading it their way. Even if Jean and Eren hid themselves and the undead lost track of them, the Romeros would remain in the area, wandering around the visitor center whether they were actively engaged or not. Unless something changed, the company could be caught inside for an indefinite period with all of their supplies still in the humvees, ammunition included.

If they were going to take care of this, they needed to do it quickly.

Erwin struck the outside of the humvee door a couple of times with his open palm. "Gunther, Ymir, pull back."

Ymir nodded but did not respond into the radio. She ducked into the humvee, followed closely by Gunther, and the commander moved quickly around to the rear of the vehicle without waiting up on them. He would be in full view as he slung open the back doors and waved for Mike and Levi to join them outside, but it didn’t make any difference to the idea that was coming together in his head. The horde was large, but it wasn’t quite the wall Ymir and the boys had described it as. It was significant, not to be trifled with, but Erwin thought it was small enough to manipulate a little. "Help me unload the crates--everything you can put your hands on. Don't worry about bringing anything in, just lay it on the ground behind the vehicle. We won’t have time to take everything so try to prioritize." Erwin climbed right up into the vehicle as he spoke, going immediately for their priceless medical supplies and passing them out to Mike. Ymir knew full well to go for the ammunition first, hauling the heavy containers out with Gunther’s help.

“What are you planning?” Mike asked as he set the medical supplies aside, the concern clear in his voice. “You going to run over them all?”

“Or drive them away,” Levi guessed, his eyes never leaving Erwin’s.

"I'm going to take the humvee and lead them far enough for you to fire on them with the weapons and ammunition we pull from humvee two. Niagara will conceal any sound that would draw others to us. Levi, you're with me." Erwin did not want him anywhere near the weapons that were about to be unloaded onto the ground. There would be no way to keep him away from them.

“What?” Levi demanded with a scowl. “Fuck no, I’m not going to play bait.”

"Romeros cannot get into the humvee and my men will not fire into the group if they gather around us. We'll stay out ahead of them." Erwin held out his hand for the key that Gunther had on him, knowing that Levi would follow or Mike would make him follow. He was already outside and they would not let him back in. His only refuge was the humvee.

Levi was hesitant to go with Erwin, and it was a forceful shove from Mike that had to initiate the first step, but the more he thought about it, the more willing he became.

He’d like to think that he thought about it long and hard, considering that it was his safest option, but the truth was that Levi had no intention of returning with them to the Sina. He had people to find. And a humvee full of gas with crates of food and supplies still in the back would be irreplaceable. He set his axe down in the back before he climbed quietly into the passenger seat, thinking of the utility knife still in his back pocket.

When Erwin absolutely could not wait any longer to go, he turned in his seat to look through the vehicle at the others. There were several crates remaining, but those shouldn’t add much weight to the humvee. His primary concern had been ensuring that the company had vital supplies in the event of a miscalculation. If Erwin rolled the vehicle or drove it into the side of a maintenance building and the Romeros swamped it, they may have to move out before they could recover its contents. “Pull back to the visitor center,” he called back. “Leave the rest.”

The last thing he saw before he turned his attention elsewhere was Ymir and Gunther team-lifting one of the ammunition crates they’d recovered, preparing to move it back to the relative safety that the visitor center offered and fire on the Romeros from there.

“This might be easier if we waited for morning,” Levi grumbled. “We’re going to lose sunlight any minute now.”

“And if a hundred Romeros get between us and humvee two?” Erwin asked, wrenching the gear shift into reverse and nailing the first couple of bodies that attempted to come up their backside, throwing it into drive just as quickly and heading around the building.

Erwin's plan worked almost immediately. He pulled the humvee up so it was visible to the Romeros beginning to cluster around humvee three and laid into the horn, drawing them immediately off of Jean and Eren. He turned the humvee around and rolled off, back towards the crest of the falls where there would be room to maneuver. The commander stopped occasionally to give the Romeros a chance to keep up, to keep them interested. Once he'd traced his way almost back to the bridge, he gunned it and spun the wheel to one side, getting out of the way so the others could shoot into the horde. Erwin caught a brief glimpse of a Romero crumpling to the ground before the others caught up to him and he gunned it again, jerking free of their seeking fingers. And so it went, Erwin driving as erratically as a poisoned cockroach and creating openings for his men to fire into, Levi making for an unfriendly passenger. It was too bad Mike hadn’t come. Far from the ears of his men, Erwin might have initiated the points system--ten for a head-on strike and twenty for using the back bumper, maybe an extra ten if they didn’t get up.

Levi’s fingernails dug into the seat as he watched the Romeros claw at the back end of the humvee. “There are too many of them,” he said quietly. “You need that ammo for the journey back.”

"Their shots are very efficient. Little will be wasted." All the same, Erwin threw the humvee into reverse as often as possible and disabled many of the Romeros badly enough that his men would simply have to go out with the machetes later and finish them off. Thirty points, he tallied grimly. Ten. Sixty. There were a lot of them, but they also had a lot of ammo and few alternative options.

Levi was silent as he slid his hand into his pocket, slowly and discreetly. He would have to time this very carefully, what with Erwin driving. He couldn’t simply hold him at knife point, or demand that he get out. No, he knew Erwin would not cooperate that way. He would have to be incapacitated and likely killed.

The thought wasn’t a pleasant one. They had spent enough time together for Levi to realize that he respected Erwin. THe man was a clever and efficient leader, and frankly he was exactly the person this convoy would need to get to shore. But there were things to do and places to go, and none of those things led to the Sina. Not yet. They were nearing a bank as Erwin was switching out of drive and into reverse, and that was less than ideal. However, if he could just …

As Erwin’s hand pushed the gear shift, Levi grabbed it and shoved hard to force the humvee into park. He slipped the utility knife from his pocket, pushed out the blade. He shifted, preparing to pounce on Erwin while he was distracted, his eye on the blonde’s temple or his ear - somewhere he could do the most damage with the least resistance.

He was ready, he told himself as he climbed nimbly over the center console, knife raised and gripped tightly in his hand. He had no reason to not be ready. He didn’t know why - there was nothing he could think of that would make him stay his hand. But he found himself hesitating, frozen in place by some doubt or fear, Erwin’s bright blue eyes flashing to the long, serrated blade poised just inches from his face.

The commander did not pause to question why Levi had stopped, barely glanced at the conflict warring across his face. His attention was entirely focused on that knife, reaching up before Levi recovered from his moment of uncertainty and snatching his wrist from the air quicker than blinking. Erwin yanked the knife to the side and pulled back on Levi’s wrist, throwing him off balance as his body pitched forward and buying Erwin a couple more seconds to reach up and grab a fistful of the shorter man’s hair. Levi didn’t even have time to realize what was about to happen to him before Erwin drove the side of his head into the dashboard. Levi went down as though his strings had been cut, crumpling unceremoniously over Erwin’s thigh.

All of this happened so quickly that Erwin was slow to move his foot from the accelerator, to realize that Levi hadn’t managed to shift them into park but into reverse. For a moment, everything had come down to that knife, the shock, removing it from the equation. And it only took approximately five seconds of inattention to make his day a lot worse. Right about the time he realized that not only were they moving backwards, but they were moving backwards quickly and that someone was screaming at him over the radio, there was a sickening crunch from the rear bumper.

“Erwin, stop!” Mike was yelling at him.

Erwin had already slammed on brakes, but the high shriek of metal on metal announced that the flimsy guard rail had given way, pitching them off of the pavement and into the sparse grass by the riverside.

Sometimes, a person knows a thing in their gut before they see the evidence confirming it. That sinking feeling of dread was already well underway before Erwin turned around in his seat to look back through the vehicle, where their crates were just starting to slide backwards as the humvee tipped, ass-first, into Niagara River.

Erwin moved his foot onto the accelerator, throwing the humvee into drive and gunning it. The pedal was pressed nearly all the way to the floor, but his back tires were spinning in water, leaving the front to drag all of that weight on its own even as the current grabbed them and started trying to pull them sideways. On top of that, the Romeros had caught up, frenzied by the noise and the sudden, jerky movements. It was like they could sense that something had gone badly wrong and it excited them into a lashing, biting mess, leaning over the front bumper, coming up along the sides, actually trying in wild desperation to sink nails and teeth into the unrelenting metal. Some of them miscalculated and Erwin watched them tumble into the river, the brutal current sucking them under the rear of the humvee and wedging them there. Others bobbed around the bumper and vanished.

“Erwin!” Nanaba shouted into the radio as his tires worked harder than they’d ever had reason to. “Erwin, holy shit you’re in the fucking river!”

Finally, the commander had a minute to reach up for the radio. “Yes, I thought I might be.” His tone was far too calm, the way people sometimes sounded when it only looked like they were keeping their cool. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t leave without looking for me, but don’t burn up too much time.”

“If you can just keep the front on land,” Mike said over the gunshots in the background, “we’ll clear out that horde … You should be able to get out.”

For the moment, Erwin was stuck there at an impasse, his spinning tires just barely keeping the humvee up on the bank, but he was no fool. He could feel them slipping one centimeter at a time, and knew that in less than half a minute the hungry river would have them. He glowered through the windshield at the Romeros that blocked his escape, making it impossible to bail out of the humvee without throwing himself into their arms, and he knew exactly how this was going to turn out.

“There won’t be enough time. I have the portable radio so I’ll turn it on at the bottom if I make it.”

“There are still crates in there. That fall will kill you. Just hang on a bit, we’ve about got it down to manageable numbers.” Almost on cue, one of the Romeros folded over the hood as somebody got in a headshot, held in place by the weight of all its fellows leaning against it. A shot like that would have been impossible from the visitor center doors, so the company had to be advancing.

“Talk to the engine. It’s doing all the work.” Erwin shoved the radio back onto its little cradle and reached up, starting to pull his seatbelt all the way out to engage the locking mechanism.

But when he looked down to adjust the belt in his lap he found himself focused instead on the back of Levi’s head, his hair still roughed up from where Erwin had grabbed it. He’d hit him pretty hard, possibly even killing him. Erwin hadn’t really been thinking about it at the time, needing the threat gone so urgently. He reached around and felt for the other man’s carotid, finding his pulse strong and steady beneath his fingers, so he had maybe a couple of seconds to decide what to do with that knowledge. Things were about to get very nasty very quickly. Anything that wasn’t pinned down would be slung violently through the cabin, Levi included. There was little chance he would survive it without a seatbelt and there was a strong possibility he’d be thrown into Erwin hard enough to kill them both.

“Erwin?” Hanji tried. “Mike and the others are moving towards your position. They’ve got the area almost clear.”

Erwin’s eyes darted over to the passenger seat, too far away to reach in this wide vehicle without unbuckling himself and taking his foot off the accelerator. They were sliding more insistently now, the only thing buying them time being the engine’s last, feeble efforts. He may manage to buckle Levi in before they went into the water, but he would not make it back to his own seat in time.

He could throw Levi into the back. He’d be slung, but he wouldn’t hit Erwin, dying harmlessly on his own in the back seat.

The commander groaned, unbuckling his belt and keeping his arm hooked through it as he plunged the knife into the seat cushion and reached down to haul Levi roughly over the center console, too frustrated and in too much of a hurry to be gentle. He shoved and manhandled and jerked the limp body into his lap, parting his legs and sitting Levi between them and pushing himself up into a posture so erect that he was pressed to the seat behind him from shoulder to knee. Drawing Levi back into his chest, Erwin pulled the seatbelt around both of them and buckled them in, pulling all the way out until the belt clicked and snapping it back to their chests. When he leaned forward he was properly pinned, the lock engaged. Now he just had to figure out what to do with Levi’s head.

The humvee lurched unpleasantly, one of the back tires hitting the bank as the current turned them downstream. In a minute, the front would be at too sharp an angle to do them any favors. He experimented quickly, trying to find a way to arrange them so their skulls didn’t knock together. If a strike like that didn’t kill them outright, it would kill them all the same if Erwin was knocked out in a flooding vehicle. Ultimately, the best he could do was take another fistful of Levi’s hair and pull the side of his head into his neck, pinning them together. The poor fucker was going to have one hell of a sore scalp if he ever woke up, but Erwin wasn’t convinced that he didn’t deserve it.

Erwin looked around for any sign of a living person, relieved to find that none of his men were anywhere near the humvee. Hopefully they had the good sense to stay well back, knowing inevitability when they saw it unfolding before their eyes. He thought about taking the radio again, warning them that there was no way, that the vehicle was already going, but then the humvee swung, the unrelenting current finally getting a good grip on their back end and dragging the front farther into the river, rendering the tires useless and knocking a good handful of Romeros into the water in the process.

Things proceeded rapidly after that. Once the engine stopped fighting back, nothing was stopping the disabled vehicle from crashing straight back into the water, dragged along the bank a couple feet before they were sucked farther out. Erwin could hear it coming up through the floor, the gross burbling sound of liquid forcing its way through tight channels, but that wasn’t what had the adrenaline slamming through his system. Drowning was only second on Erwin’s list of imminent disasters.

“Erwin, hold on!”

The humvee hit a rock and the impact shuddered through the entire frame of the vehicle. Erwin could feel the harsh grind of metal on stone through his seat, reminding him that metal was only a strong material relative to the small amount of force that humans could apply to it. Right now, in this river, he might as well have been in a tin can, a wooden barrel, as the rock momentarily slowed the back end of the humvee and whipped the front around, forcing Erwin to stare right over the misty precipice of the Horseshoe Falls. In the near-darkness of nightfall with the banks of the river hardly visible on either side of him, the endless roar and the blank white wall of mist could have been the mouth of an abyss.

Erwin clenched his teeth and tensed his arm, pressing Levi so hard into his neck that the muscles burned in protest. As he hit the edge and felt the humvee tip, he hoped that there was a god and that he or she wasn’t busy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger! Get it?


	7. Flushed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin and Levi begin to comprehend the gravity of the situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title: Fuck Isaac Newton
> 
> Alternate Summary: "Love Is An Open Door," except Erwin and Levi's romance is not so easily accessed and the door is fucking locked. They are, however, Frozen.

The humvee fell _sideways_. It was slow to roll, frozen in that unfortunate position like a fly caught in amber. The seatbelt’s locking mechanism did its work, taking the pair’s combined weight and hugging it firmly to Erwin’s seat, securing them for the moment. The same could not be said of the supplies in the back. As the humvee finally began to tip, still on its side even while the front bumper swung skyward, the crates began sliding. One of them struck the back of Erwin’s seat hard enough to snap his head forward, two more sharp lurches announcing the other two falling in behind it. God, if the humvee tipped just a little farther and they worked their way around his seat into the front ...

Erwin pressed into Levi’s back so hard he almost couldn't draw breath against the force of gravity, hyper aware of the slightest change in angle and the precariousness of the crates bearing up into his back It seemed to stretch for an eon, and all around them the deafening roar of water.

Erwin felt the impact in his bones. It ripped through the humvee like a shockwave, crushing the back end against unyielding rock and flinging their supplies off in a different direction. The vehicle glanced off the stone and rolled wildly, Erwin losing track of the heavy crates in the chaotic blur of motion and noise. It was the angle that had saved them. He knew that even before they rolled to a stop, miraculously right-side up at the bottom of the Niagara river. If they’d hit the rocks head-on, front or back, the humvee would have crumpled around them like an aluminum can, likely trapping them inside when the doors warped.

Instead, Erwin was greeted at the bottom with a nasty tumble and a grinding sensation that he could feel in his clenched teeth, the current actually dragging them slowly along the riverbed. The unstable creak of metal was audible even over the sound of the Niagara River coming down on top of their heads and almost immediately, Erwin’s feet were wet.

Erwin pressed his fingers once more to Levi’s jugular, detecting no change in his heartbeat, though his body sagged limply against Erwin’s. That lucky bastard had missed the entire damn thing. Erwin shook him roughly. He likely wouldn’t make it out of here asleep. Erwin wasn’t sure if a person could automatically hold their breath in their sleep or not. It had never come up. Giving up quickly on the shaking, Erwin reached around him as best as he could and smacked him across the face.

Levi didn’t stir until the water had risen to their knees, ice cold and pricking at his skin like needles, soaking through the clean clothes he had just changed into hours before. He looked around wildly, clawed desperately at the seatbelt, confusion clear on his face, and it took him another few seconds to really grasp the situation - where he sat in Erwin’s lap and how quickly the water was rising.

“Don’t panic,” Erwin said immediately, reaching down with his free hand to unbuckle them. “We just fell over Niagara Falls and we need to exit this flooding vehicle. If you want to survive, keep your head on and cooperate.” He thrust his hips up, knocking Levi a few inches forward into the steering wheel to so he could yank his shirt aside and reach between them to unfasten his uniform belt.

Levi showed no signs of panicking, but he did look concerned. His head ached all over, throbbing and stinging in places even besides where he had been slammed into the dashboard and he was furious about that, but moreso at himself for hesitating. For now, only one fact was clear. Erwin had saved him when he didn’t have to, when Levi wouldn’t have done it had he been in Erwin’s place. And so, for the moment, deferring to Erwin was going to be the smartest option on the board.

Erwin didn’t bother giving Levi any instructions, simply took the man by the shoulders and pulled him back into his lap once he had his belt undone. “It’s a good thing those jeans don’t quite fit you,” he said, sliding the end of thick leather through Levi’s own belt and moving to fasten it again, effectively tethering them together. “The current out there will be stronger than either of us can imagine.” He spoke quickly as the water surged around his chest, forcing him to lift up into a sort of crouch so that Levi would not drown before they even made it out of the vehicle.

“When I open the door, cover your nose and mouth. The force may knock the air out of you otherwise. Conserve your energy until you feel the current slacken, then kick like hell for the surface.” The water was high enough that the top of Erwin’s head brushed against the roof. He would have to wait a couple more seconds before he could open the door, until the cab was completely full and the pressure was more or less equalized. He didn’t mention it to Levi, but if the vehicle was pointed the wrong way, with its nose to the falls, that door would have more than a few tons of water sweeping against it and holding it shut. If that happened, they would have to try swimming to the roof hatch while tied at the waist, wasting time they didn’t have.

Erwin didn’t even want to think about the Romeros that had gone over the edge just before them, that were likely still coming down around them, possibly washing up on the banks. He would deal with that if they made if that far.

“Okay. Breathe,” was his last instruction to Levi, and that left him barely enough time to take a deep breath himself before the water closed over their heads. Levi heard the creaking and popping of Erwin opening the door. He seemed to get it open without much resistance, but the minute the door was open, the humvee lurched forward with a terrible screeching, whipping the vehicle sideways like it was nothing. Levi clamped his hand over his mouth and nose as they finally came to a semi-stop and Erwin pulled them out.

The commander had not been exaggerating about the current. It shoved and pushed and beat them down, rolled and crashed on top of them and sucked them right down the river.

Too soon, Levi’s lungs began to burn again and his head ached and pounded. He used his other hand to cover the first as reinforcement and although the current hadn’t let up he began kicking. Black spots began exploding in his vision and that was when he knew he was in deep shit. He did begin to panic then, a purely instinctual reaction that had him tugging at the belt, kicking, clawing at the water in an effort to reach the surface. He only knew he’d found up when bubbles began to escape his lips. He watched them rise and he tried to follow them before they were whisked away, but the churning of the river wasn’t making it easy. He was tired and cold and the burning in his lungs had turned sharper and more concentrated and he was slowly finding that he didn’t mind it so much.

Then, Erwin slammed a hand over his mouth and nose, preventing that deep, reflexive inhale that would kill him almost immediately. Erwin had been somewhat relaxed so far and burned his oxygen less rapidly, but the pain of being dragged along the riverbed, knocked into rocks, was rapidly eating up the oxygen he was trying to save. When they finally stopped tumbling, Levi’s violent struggle ceasing, he waited a split second to feel the riverbed beneath him and quickly drew his legs under them and pushed off as hard as he could.

He didn’t make it to the surface. He didn’t even make it close. Erwin kicked his legs, hard, hoping he was still pointed in the right direction. When cold air hit him suddenly in the face he gasped, lashing out stubbornly, disbelievingly with his feet as the river tried once more to swallow him. His head went under more than once, but he’d seen the dark mass of nothingness where there was no water to reflect the starlight. Half blind with Levi’s weight tied to him, his limbs trying to become unresponsive and numb with a combination of cold and exhaustion, Erwin aimed himself at the spot where he thought the bank should be and kicked sideways. It wasn’t so difficult once he was on top of the water and farther downstream. The water whisked him quickly along, but he was able to move gradually towards the shore without fighting it too directly. Had that been necessary, they would not have made it.

The shore itself presented another problem. Erwin felt it first under his boots and turned to dig his heels in, reaching out for an invisible bank with the hand that wasn’t gripping Levi’s torso. He hit it with his knuckles first, scrabbling for purchase and missing several when his numb fingers could not keep hold of the slippery rocks. He found a good handful of long grass and ripped it right out of the bank from the root when the current went right on pulling. The river kept trying to reclaim him, to drag him back out to its center, and Erwin expected at any minute for a reeking corpse to fall upon him from the bank, sinking its teeth in. But there was one thing that kept him thrashing long after he should have been utterly depleted, one piece of knowledge so terrifying that he was willing to risk the Romeros on the bank if it got them out of the river as soon as possible.

He couldn’t remember whether the famous whirlpool was at the top of the Falls or the bottom.

Ultimately, it was a piece of half-rotted wood that his fingers found their way into. It tried to crumble in his hand, but it was wedged firmly into the bank and he just managed to hold on, though the river slung him around and threw him into the rocky shore, his back scraping brutally along the bottom and side. Even through the creeping numbness, he felt his skin tearing.

Crawling out of that river was harder than anything they’d ever had him do in basic training. It might have been harder than anything he’d dragged himself out of afterwards, as well. He half pulled, half pushed, and squirmed his way up onto shore, his fingers going straight to his belt to detach himself from Levi. It took him longer than it should have, his fingers clumsy with cold and lacking the capacity for delicate maneuvering, but with a little yanking he managed to separate them.

The other man was entirely too still. Erwin had known even in the river that he wasn’t breathing, didn’t know how many minutes it had been. The cold would help hold off brain damage, but only for a few minutes and only if Erwin could manage to revive him. The bank sloped ever so slightly upward, so Erwin flipped Levi’s body around, placing his feet higher than his head and tipping his head back to open the airway.

Jesus, Levi was turning out to be such high maintenance. He pinched the man’s nose shut and breathed evenly into his mouth, his eyes on Levi’s chest to see if it would expand. It didn’t. There was water in his airway, then. Failing to find a pulse beneath the thin skin of Levi’s wrist, Erwin rolled the man over and gave the water a minute to come up before he returned him to his back and began the first series of chest compressions. Erwin paused to breathe into his mouth at the end of the repetition and see if the airway had been cleared. Still, his chest did not rise. A little more concerned, he tried clearing Levi’s airway a second time and began the next set.

Erwin had done this a couple of times before, but never on a drowning victim and never on a body that already felt so cold. He knew the procedure back to front, but Levi felt dead beneath him, his lips frigid despite the fact that Erwin had been in the same river and should have been about the same temperature. That did not bode well. When he hit the third repetition, he was about to check his watch--an old habit from the days when things like time of death still mattered--but then Levi convulsed under his hands.

Levi finally began to breathe again, and it was sudden, all at once, in gasps and wheezes and coughs. He rolled onto his side on his own and amidst the coughing, he felt his stomach lurch and his throat burned as water and bile forced itself out of his mouth. He didn't have the energy to move or even to spit out the remaining vomit, but he was thankful for the fingers that scooped it out before rolling him into his back. He was silent for a long time, shivering and wheezing on the bank, his eyes screwed closed.

"Where am I?" he asked when he finally spoke.

"You're laying on the lower bank of the Niagara River, but before that you were dead for a minute or so. Which did you see? Heaven or Hell?"

"Must have been Hell," Levi said in a tone that might have implied some humor had it not been so thoroughly exhausted.

"Who, you? No way." Seeing that the immediate danger of Levi drowning in his own vomit had passed, Erwin got up and went to rinse his fingers in the same water that had just tried to kill them. Fuck Niagara River anyway.

Though he waited for it, Levi's energy never returned. He felt like it was still being sapped from him. He didn't move or sit up. He simply looked up at the sky, now completely dark and littered with stars. It was funny that it occurred to him now that one of the wonderful things about the end of the world was the fact that you could finally see the stars from anywhere.

"Hey," he finally said when he caught his breath. "You saved my life. Twice now," he said, his voice betraying his confusion.

"I should probably stop," Erwin agreed. "The universe obviously wants you gone."  

"Apparently," Levi replied, thoughtful. "You didn't have to. _I_ wouldn't have. Why did you, especially after ...?"

"You hesitated. If you hadn't tried to kill me up there I would still be waiting for it. That you tried and could not follow through closes the book on that question."

Levi was quiet again, mulling over that answer. He wasn't satisfied. He didn't know why he hesitated, he couldn't read the volumes that Erwin apparently could. And it just wasn't good enough. Saving him was too much trouble, too dangerous.

Finally, he sat up, shivering, and pulled his shirt off.

"We should move," Erwin said. Nothing was onto them yet but there was no telling when that would change. "There may be a way to get back up. The Canadian side at least has a tunnel running behind the falls. Perhaps there's an access point on this side of the river."

Levi tried to stand on numb legs. He slipped, once, before he managed to get up. "The wet clothes aren't doing us any favors," he said, though he wasn't sure how much better it was to be barechested. He held out a hand to help Erwin up.

Erwin was so spent that as he took Levi's hand to drag himself up, his legs quivered unsteadily beneath him. He took a deep breath and willed them to hold his weight, keeping his breathing slow and deep. The bank had done a number on his back. He was too numb and exhausted and full of adrenaline to feel the majority of it, but he did recognize the hot trail of blood sliding into the notch of his spine where the torn uniform shirt didn’t stick to his skin. He peeled off the sopping material and bunched it up in his hand, trying to look over his shoulder at the damage.

"Holy shit," Levi said, looking at the torn flesh of Erwin's back. He didn't bother to ask how it happened. He only knew that it had likely happened as a result of Erwin's efforts to rescue the both of them. He took the shirt he had slipped off and began cleaning up the blood, dabbing carefully at the scrapes and cuts. Hell, it was the least he could do, all things considered.

"Is it that bad?" Erwin asked, still trying to see what it looked like. There were a number of small abrasions covering his body, but Levi looked the same. How could they not? They were lucky they didn’t have worse. That nothing had been broken was a borderline miracle. Erwin's ribs ached where he'd hit the bottom of the river, but it hadn't been a direct hit and he could tell that it would only be bruises. "Describe it to me. I need to know what I'm dealing with."

"It's gonna need stitches," Levi admitted. "Mostly it's just some bad scrapes all over your shoulders, but you've got a pretty deep looking gash here." He dabbed at said gash, soaking up the blood as best he could with a sopping wet shirt.

Erwin tried not to shift under his touch, but it was difficult. The blood itched and when the other man dabbed at his injuries he was suddenly able to feel them a lot more. "Will you able to slow the bleeding?"

“I don’t know.” The water was … well, watering it down. He wrung out the shirt and tried again and it helped, but ultimately he sighed. He tore the fabric open down the back with the assistance of a rip that was already there and tore it in half again. He tied two ends together so that the shirt became one long strip of cloth. Levi placed it over the injury and reached around to wrap it across Erwin’s chest and back. When he’d used it almost completely, he tied it off. “That’ll keep some pressure on it,” he sighed, stepping back.

“Thank you.” Erwin was too tired to be surprised by the other man’s efforts. He supposed this was Levi feeling like he owed him, he thought dully, forcing one foot to go in front of the other. Maybe it was the beginning of the end of their dangerous hostilities. “Do you think a very long ramp with a gentle upward grade is too much to hope for?” he asked.

“Nope,” Levi replied, turning to where the Falls were still crashing, oblivious to the trouble it had caused. “Let’s just see if we can find that tunnel first.” He wrapped an arm around Erwin to keep him steady, though it was less to help the other man and more to give himself a little support.

Erwin grunted, but did not reply. As the adrenaline high ebbed and the pain and the cold started becoming noticeable, his body began to shake. Whether it was fatigue or cold or a vicious combination of the two, he didn’t know, and he couldn’t tell if Levi was shivering as well because he himself was moving. He was both surprised and unsurprised at how far the river had taken him. One part of him thought it was incredible that it hadn’t taken them farther--the trip had felt so long. The rest of him was amazed by how far they had gotten. He had no way of knowing how much time had passed but it couldn’t have been more than a small handful of minutes from the moment he took that last deep breath in the humvee to the time his head broke the surface. He knew he could hold his breath for about three minutes in ideal conditions, which those had not been.

It was significantly longer than that before they reached the opening of the tunnel. The opening gaped in the side of the Falls, wide and dark, promising them all of the problems that came with that darkness.

“Hey,” Levi huffed, his teeth chattering and making it nigh impossible to talk legibly without expending too much energy. “What happens if we find one of those things in there?” He didn’t go on. He didn’t need to mention that neither of them could fight. They didn’t have weapons, energy, or even clothes to protect them from bites and scratches. He almost immediately regretted asking the question, because he knew the answer.

“We’d hear it long before we saw it. All we could do is kick it down the stairs and pray to anyone listening that it doesn’t make its way back up.”

Levi just shook his head without a word, but he didn’t pause as they headed into that all-encompassing blackness. Erwin did, stopping them just briefly enough to toss his shirt onto the ground. He had no idea what he was tossing it into or how visible it would be. In this case, his military camo wouldn’t do them any favors, but it was better than going up without leaving any trace at all that they’d been there, that they’d survived. Erwin had no idea where his radio had gone, whether it was in the river or if it had made it out of the vehicle at all.

The tunnel didn’t do much to shield them from the thick Niagara mist or from the cold, but it did help to block the wind. That alone, however, did not make up for the stairs they found inside - long, shallow steps that promised to go on for longer than they could bear.

“This leads back to the visitor center, right?” Levi asked.

“It should, or the surface at least. I can’t imagine where else they would go.” Erwin reached out to place a steadying hand on the wall and they began, stopping a little ways into the tunnel to try and let their eyes adjust. But he knew it wouldn’t serve them for very long. The tunnel was so long that there was no way it would be anything apart from absolutely black.

“Do you smell that?” Erwin asked. He’d thought the inside of his nose was too numb and runny to smell anything, but the reek of decay was pungent and unmistakable.

“I don’t so much smell it as feel it burning my eyes,” Levi grumbled, fighting back gags.

Erwin grit his teeth grimly. “We can’t spend the night down here,” he said after a moment of thought. “There’s no way to dry out, and we can’t stay wet at this temperature or we’ll become hypothermic.”

After that they stopped frequently just to listen for any sound that would indicate they were not alone. Romeros were not the stealthiest of monsters. If they were in the tunnel with them, they would hear it.

The more they climbed, the more the burning in Levi’s lungs returned. The cold ached and tore at his throat and chest and he’d long lost feeling in his fingers and toes, not to mention his head was still killing him. His legs were still weak and shaking besides the cold and moving became harder with every step. “Next time we stop,” he said quietly, “we may need to sit for a minute. Just a heads up.”

“Try not to stop. You may not be able to get back up.” Erwin spoke for himself as well. He was leaning heavily on the wall, upright only because he was not being forced to take all of his own weight. It wasn’t the burn in his legs that got him, or even the pain. It was the cold, the way it made his body dull and unresponsive, the exhaustion dragging at him like a ball and chain. “We should be close now.”

“You think?” Levi breathed, hardly able to make words form on his blue lips. He stumbled on the next step and might have fallen had he not been holding on to Erwin, and for a moment he was afraid he was going to just drag the larger man down with him. He forced himself up again and nearly misstepped a second time. His legs were so numb it was hard  to be sure his boots didn’t catch stone corners. He wanted to speak more and fill the darkness and cold with something human, something familiar, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. Even if he could, he wasn’t convinced his could make his tongue behave as he wanted. Besides, the air was still too tense between them for conversation, too filled with attempted murder and unexpected rescues.

Something in Levi wanted to feel bad about what he had done. He regretted it. It had been the wrong decision to make. He’d tried to kill someone who had picked him up off of the undead-infested highway, and that same man had saved his life even after the fact.

It shouldn’t have mattered to Levi that Erwin was the better man in a lot of ways. But it did.

As he slid his hand along the wall, he could vaguely make out something wet and thick and kind of sticky. He wouldn’t have noticed the difference except for the consistency and how his fingers couldn’t drag along the stone face. He looked to the wall curiously and tripped, this time on something large.

“Fuck,” he stuttered out as he released Erwin and let himself fall. He didn’t stop for long. When he realized what cushioned him against the stone, he scrambled to his feet as quick as they would allow and fell against Erwin, who nearly pitched backwards down the stairs as Levi careened into him.

It was impossible to tell if the body was Romero or human, but it was certainly dead. Even with Levi kicking and tripping and falling on top of it, it didn’t move or make a sound, but Erwin had no idea what Levi had touched, what he had been scrabbling against.

“What is it?” he demanded to know, dreading the answer. Erwin could only imagine Levi reacting that way to one thing. As he caught Levi’s arm where it rammed into his ribs, Erwin yanked Levi back towards the other side of the small tunnel, hitting his elbow on the wall in the process. “Were you bitten?”

“No,” Levi stammered, staring into the darkness where the body was lying somewhere. “No, I think it’s already dead …”

They stood there silently for a long moment, waiting. Erwin’s heart beat so hard in his chest it was almost painful, adrenaline offering a new, if temporary, jolt of energy. But nothing came at them out of the dark. There was no sound in the silence except for their own breathing, and Erwin let his breath out in a heavy sigh.

“We need to move on.”

Levi nodded despite the fact that Erwin could not see him. He didn’t wrap his arm around Erwin again as he cautiously placed his hand against the wall and began to climb the stairs on his own, unperturbed by the blood covering his fingers and palm. “God, I hope that door is just around this corner,” he sighed.

“You and me both.”

But it was a while later before Erwin’s seeking fingers hit the hard, damp metal of a doorframe, likely bruising his knuckles in the process, but he was so banged up at that point anyway that it barely registered. There hadn’t been any light spilling beneath the door, but if Erwin had to guess, they weren’t all the way up the tunnel. His unit would have posted someone to watch for them if they’d realized it was here, so he could only guess that either the tunnel entrance was not located in the visitor center itself and they hadn’t found it yet or, the more likely alternative, there was a little more tunnel up ahead of them that ended in another door.

“Is that it?” Levi took a step towards the door and reached out for it, hardly feeling a difference between the rock of the wall and the hard, smooth metal. The sound of rattling sent a wave of … something down Levi’s back. Happiness? Shock? Relief? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even sure it was positive, but only that he had to get through that door. He fumbled for the doorknob and finally found it, but discovered that it would not turn. He paused, confused, and suspected that his frozen fingers were getting no purchase on the sleek handle. He gripped tighter and tried again, but to no avail. The knob remained unmoving.

“No,” he breathed as he stared forward in the darkness. “No way. You’re fucking _kidding_ me,” he groaned, and as angry and frustrated as he was, he simply couldn’t find the strength to raise his voice or do any of the other things he wanted to do. He wanted to kick the metal, beat into it, try to break it, anything, anything at all to make it budge, but he stayed frozen, staring into the darkness where the door was, a cold hopelessness sinking into him, soaking into the very marrow of his bones.

“It’s locked?” Erwin asked, his voice suspiciously dead of emotion. He already knew.

Levi didn’t respond. He finally moved again, raised his other hand in a fist and beat it against the door once, as though that might shake the deadbolt. “God damn it,” he huffed, trying the handle a third time with no different results.

"In the morning we can go back to the bottom and wait there. I told them to search for us, but they won't search long. They know they can't afford it." Erwin turned his back to the door and allowed himself to tip backwards against it, sagging tiredly to the ground. On the other side he heard movement, several soft bodies hitting the closed door and falling back without a cry of alarm or a muttered curse. Drawn down to the noise Levi had been making were an unknown number of Romeros, far more than a few by the sound of it. "That's why they didn't search down here," Erwin said. "Without knowing how many Romeros they're dealing with, they wouldn't have investigated the tunnel right away." He snorted. "They were probably going to come back to the front and ask me how to proceed."

“Do you think they’ll look long enough to find us?”

“I dropped my shirt right outside. Even a cursory look should let them know where we are.”

"Well, I hope they give a cursory look," Levi sighed as he slid down to join Erwin on the ground. Filthy as it was, he didn't have the energy to stand there all night. He settled in for the long night next to Erwin, keeping the way he pressed into his warmer arm subtle and likely failing.

Erwin could leave shirts out all he liked, Levi thought, but they would likely be finding their own way back up. And it would just have to wait until morning.

The commander didn’t bother with such subtleties. He reached for the fastenings on his pants and lifted his hips to get them off, remembering only when they were down to his knees that he hadn’t unlaced his boots and leaning forward with a sigh to pull the laces apart. “Get rid of your pants, too,” he said. The sopping garments were drawing heat away from them faster than their tired bodies could replenish it and Erwin knew there was no way that either of them would last the night in such a state. He peeled everything off, down to his disgusting socks, kicking pants and underwear weakly away from his body and stubbing a toe on one of his heavy boots in the process. He barely gave a shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K: I have approximately one fourth of a first aid and CPR class under my belt (it's a long story), so I've had experience with actual CPR, but I didn't complete the course and I could be remembering things wrong. Please suspend your disbelief on any errors. Let me know about them, though, in case I actually have to perform CPR someday.


	8. Naked and Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the night gets colder, Levi and Erwin get closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, a HUGE thanks to [Mandy](http://harmony283.tumblr.com) for being a wonderful beta!

It was impossible to dry out. Even this far up the tunnel everything was damp from the door behind them to the dewy droplets gathering on their skin. Erwin could feel it sometimes when too many joined and they became heavy, tickling over his skin in sudden, frigid trails. Niagara was so powerful that it was pushing its mist up the dark tunnel, intent upon killing them whether they were in the river or not.

"The sun just set maybe an hour or two ago," Levi huffed, rubbing his arms. "It's unlikely we'll be able to survive the whole night like this."

Erwin looked over at him in the dark out of habit, not because he could see anything at all. "A large part of survival is mental. Don't let the situation get into your head and you'd be surprised at what you can endure." He said it like a man who knew that from experience. "Pull your knees to your chest. It'll keep all the heat close to your core. Also, we're going to have to pull an all nighter. If you go to sleep hypothermic your body temperature will plummet." Erwin dragged his own reluctant body into position as he spoke, tucking his elbows close to his sides and folding his hands against his chest.

"I know that," Levi sighed. He'd spent his fair share of nights in the cold and the rain, though none of them had been this drastic and it had been a long time. He pulled his knees up so close that he could rest his chin on them and wrapped his arms under his knees. "Maybe we ought to go back. Maybe outside we could find somewhere more dry."

"We could try it," Erwin said doubtfully, "but I don't think we'll find a better place than this one so close to the Falls. This is where they'll be looking for us." He didn’t fancy going back down all those stairs either. Exhausted as they were, they might end up taking the fast way to the bottom and Erwin had experienced enough falling to last him a lifetime.

Levi's only response was a grunt to assure Erwin that he had been heard and understood. He hugged his knees tighter, but tensing up only made the shivering worse. Beside him, Erwin was facing a similar problem, trying to keep the tremor from his voice as he spoke, but even that was trying to shake.

"My watch is still working." He tipped his wrist towards Levi so the glowing hands were visible, announcing that it was still only early evening, just after dark. Their trip down the river, up the bank, then into the tunnel had not taken as long as he’d hoped. Maybe he shouldn't have shown the other man that. "It's a wonder the face didn't break. The rest of me looks like something Cerberus dragged from the Styx and has been playing with a little while." He ran a finger over the glass, still smooth and undamaged by either water or rock. The thing would probably outlive him. "You weren't much better, what little bit I saw."

"That's fucking rude." Levi's teeth chattered even as he spoke, and he was shocked that he didn't bite his tongue clean off.

"If you had a mirror and some light you wouldn't say so." Erwin himself was having to hunch over a little to avoid leaning on his butchered shoulders and it wouldn't be comfortable or practical to sit in that position all night. Besides, he'd just thought of a less awkward way to get more skin to skin contact.

"Turn sideways with your back to me."

Erwin didn't wait for Levi to comply, he simply turned in place and leaned into the door with his back to the other man, though he winced as his body protested even that tiny movement. It would be harder to fall asleep this way, too. If either of them did so, they'd likely tip backwards and earn themselves a rousing elbow to the kidney.

Levi only paused briefly before he did as Erwin suggested, turning and willingly pressing his back into him. It only slightly concerned him that Erwin was still warmer than he was. "It would probably be easier to pass the time and stay conscious if we talked to each other … " he said, only realizing after he'd finished speaking how terrible a conversation starter that was. All the same, Erwin made a sound of agreement at the suggestion.

"I think it would, too." At least for a while. "Though I won't believe that you can make idle chitchat until I see it."

“Yeah, me either,” Levi grumbled, shoving against him lightly.

Erwin paused, surprised by the playfulness in the gesture, but his shock was so brief that when he shoved back, the delay was nearly undetectable. Pain lit up in several places across his back where he'd unintentionally bunched the raw skin. "I didn't think you would be interested in leaning your head on my shoulder, but in case you were considering it, please don't."

“No worries,” Levi shot back. “The thought never crossed my mind.” In fact, he leaned his head forward, resting it on the arms crossed over his knees. After a moment, he spoke again. “So … you were in the Guard?”

"Still am," Erwin said, and his tone might have been bordering on amused. "I had to make it through additional training courses, but I’m still National Guard. I'm a Green Beret."

“So where’s the beret?”

"We don't wear them in combat. Only for photographs and formal occasions." Erwin was _definitely_ amused, perhaps at himself, certainly at Levi.

Levi rolled his eyes but he didn’t mention that he had been joking. “Alright,” he sighed.

As though he'd read the man's mind--or more likely his tone--Erwin sighed. "I know you weren't being serious and I wasn’t either. It'll be a couple more hours before I stop commanding long enough to figure out what happened to my sense of humor."

“Well,” Levi replied, “you’re nobody’s commander right now and if it takes you a few hours to realize that then this really will be a miserable night.” After another pause, he tried again. “Any family to talk about?”

"No," Erwin lied smoothly, seeming to remember quite suddenly who it was he had been speaking to. The darkness and the circumstances made a thing like that surprisingly simple to forget. "You?"

Levi paused only for a second. He didn’t think of anyone or anything in particular - there was too much for that. “Not anymore,” he grumbled. “That’s everyone’s story, though. We've all got dead people."

That was the truth. Erwin couldn't think of a single person it didn't apply to. There were many who'd lost track of family and friends in the evacuation, who hadn't seen them die, but to be unaccounted for was almost as good as being dead. And there were many who knew exactly where their people were.

"If there'd been a way to communicate after the grid went down," Erwin said, his tone still a little clipped, "things might have been different for so many people. After every disaster you hear someone say, 'You don't realize how much we rely on technology until it's gone.'” He lacked the energy to maintain any real sense of irritation and his voice softened by degrees as he spoke. “Early in my career I was deployed to the site of an F5 tornado and even as we pulled people out of the rubble there was no way to call hospitals or families. We had satphones but the hospitals didn't."

At the time, it had seemed like the worst Erwin would ever see. At night with the power out for miles, he’d said it felt just like the end of the world. God, he'd been so green.

"Yeah, I remember having the same problem after the firestorm," Levi mused. "That was the worst I had seen up to now." He shifted uncomfortably where he sat and rubbed at his upper arms. He had seen some shit in the past year or so, but somehow, the firestorm seemed to have truly burned itself into his memory like a grotesque brand.

"Oh, that's right. You had a little experience with disaster before the Romeros." Erwin wished Levi would quit fidgeting. The way it pulled at his skin made his shoulders sting, and though it wasn't quite pain, it was uncomfortable. "I keep forgetting you were there. It's difficult to reconcile the man who would volunteer at a disaster site with the one who tried to put a knife into my face." There was no accusation there, just curiosity, as though Levi might be willing to explain himself.

Levi pursed his lips and didn't respond immediately. It was a valid question that Erwin was posing, but one that he didn't necessarily want to open up and answer.

"So," he said finally, "did they ever catch the guy responsible … ? I didn't even keep an eye on the news about it." He rested his head against his arms again and prayed that Erwin wouldn't be able to call him on the lie because to him, it would be a strange thing to lie about.

"No. The four Kings of Les Ailes all had a remarkable ability to cover their own asses. Normally in a situation like that with an organized crime syndicate, you have a pretty good idea who's at the top even if you can't touch them." Erwin shook his head. "Not these guys. We never had anything on them except rumors of titles. Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades, with The King of Spades calling the shots for the whole group. Some of the investigators went so far as to say the Kings never existed, but I didn’t agree. Every snake must have a head."

"We?" Levi snorted. "So you're Guard, Army, and some kind of investigator. Damn, youre just a little bit of everything." He noticed that the shivering was becoming less violent now. "There are always ways to find people. Sounds to me like these guys don't exist … Who came up with something stupid like card suits anyways? How does that even work?"

"At that time, I wasn't a commander yet, but I was working my way up. I didn't investigate it myself, but I was partially responsible for some of the proceedings. That was close enough for me." There was something in his voice that suggested he would remember the firestorm for the rest of his life, even in spite of all that had happened after. Something about that assignment had struck him, becoming one of those things a person could not let go.

"Oh yeah?" Levi asked with genuine curiosity, turning to look over his shoulder as if he could see Erwin. "What do you know?"

"Not enough." Could you ever know enough? "Did you live close to the site?"

"Nah," Levi sighed. "The other side of town." He could feel his energy draining, either from the cold or the thought of the firestorm and everything surrounding it. He caught his eyes trying to close and lifted his head.

"You must have come as soon as you heard, before they rerouted public transit from that area."

"I was in the area already."

Erwin raised an eyebrow in the dark. He realized he hadn't thought much about what Levi's income level might have been, hadn't had any reason to, but now that he was thinking about it, he wondered if Levi hadn’t just lied about living across town, if maybe that had been his own neighborhood he'd been helping to clean up. Erwin could understand why he wouldn't have wanted to own up to something like that, considering it had largely been government-funded housing. But it certainly put a different spin on things--explained why Levi would care so much. Those had been his neighbors. Erwin gave himself a minute to consider that before replying. "Did you lose anything?" Anyone?

Levi leaned to rest his head on the metal doorframe. "People. A lot of people." He could sense the skepticism in Erwin's voice, but he was just too cold to care.

"I'm sorry," Erwin said, satisfied to let the matter slide without trying to call Levi out on the lie. "I had no idea you were that involved. It's disgusting, all the life that was wasted." Erwin snorted softly. "I can only hope the King of Spades got his just desserts."

"You never struck me as the kind to wish ill on people," Levi mused.

"I'd wish ill on him," Erwin said without shame.

"I'm sure he’ll suffer if he hasn't already. If he's even real, but what does that matter? It's always nice to have someone to blame. If it wasn't the King of Spades, it would be the damn president … How did you know that Les Ailes were involved?" he asked finally, the French rolling off of his tongue almost naturally.

"We had an informant in the mob, or the police did. He came to us saying the family had killed an officer and that Les Ailes was moving to retaliate. I suppose the informant had an informant."

"Uh-huh," Levi said thoughtfully. "Wait … You knew ahead of time that there would be a retaliation?"

"The police did, but they didn't know where it would be and by the time they got their feelers out it had already happened. That was before my unit was called in."

Levi nodded slowly, staring ahead into the darkness. "Fair enough," he yawned.

Figuring a subject change was in order, Erwin asked, "What did you do before all this?"

"Nothing interesting." The question caught Levi entirely off guard and when he finally answered, the lie felt unnatural and he hoped he could pass it off as shivers. "Just odd jobs."

"Which was your favorite?"

_Shit._ "I worked with the soup kitchen a lot."

Erwin wrinkled his nose. "Those are usually volunteer positions aren't they?"

"Yeah?"

"You had an embarrassing job didn't you?" Erwin asked, nudging Levi to show he was joking. "What was it? I won't judge."

"I was a foreign film star," Levi shot back. "I retired after I flew planes in 'Nam." He wasn't sure if it was the cold that was lending a hand to his imagination or the subconscious realization that he was slowly falling asleep.

"Oh yeah?" Erwin asked, obviously humoring. "Did you enlist as a fetus or do you just look really good for your age?"

"Are you asking how long I've been seventeen?" Levi said in an intentionally deep voice.

"I was asking how long you've been thirteen." Erwin obviously had no idea what he was referencing and had no idea there was something he didn’t know.

"If the real answer was too boring for the Green Beret, I can make up stories all night.”

"Are you any good at telling them?"

"To be perfectly honest, I can't even tell a joke with a decent punchline. I do have one story I like to tell, but it's not real interesting."

"I've got all night. Or until I die of hypothermia." It sounded like an automobile warranty: five years or 30,000 miles.

"Lovely. Alright, so one of my odd jobs was making kites. I ended up cutting up a lot of string." This was already exhausting and his jaw was still shaking so hard that talking was more than a little difficult. "Somehow, I ended up swallowing two pieces of the damn stuff." He paused then, both for dramatic effect and to catch his cold breath.

"I've just realized that you're actually a cat. You're a fastidious asshole who swallows things he shouldn't." Erwin was shivering too hard to laugh much at the jibe. "Go on. Did they have to operate?"

Levi snorted, but he didn't dignify the comment with a response. "No, they didn't," he replied shortly. "But the next day, I saw those two pieces of string again. They came out the other end tied together … " Another pause. "I shit you knot." His lips twitched up, but he was too tired to experience any real amusement.

"Jesus Christ," Erwin groaned, rubbing his numb face with an even number hand. "Was any part of that true?"

"I have never made a kite in my life."

"Only terrible jokes and soup kitchen food," Erwin countered, wondering if he was really going to share humor with this man in this place, freezing to death with someone who wanted to kill him just hours before. Life certainly had a strange way of being strange. "You emptied septic tanks for a living, didn't you?"

"Nope. If you guess it, I'll tell you," Levi promised.

"Challenge accepted." Erwin had no doubt that he couldn't trust Levi to honestly tell him, but the game would keep them both up a little longer. "Merry Maids."

"What the fuck is that?" Levi snorted

"They clean people's houses. Presumably they're cheerful about it."

"No. I cleaned my own house enough. Try again."

"Janitor."

“Let me clarify; I didn’t clean _anyone’s_ house but my own. I’m going to have to start limiting your guesses.”

"Fine," Erwin said, though technically ‘houses’ did not normally include places of business. "Worm farmer."

Levi made a faint gagging noise, and that was his only answer.

"Drug dealer."

“Fuck no,” Levi spat with a level of vehemence that even surprised him.

Erwin paused, curious about that, but he moved on. "Pole dancer."

“Don’t you wish.”

"Absolutely not. The guy who empties parking meters."

“Rule out any and all government or service jobs because it’s none of those. My job paid well enough to afford me time and energy to volunteer, so cut the shit.”

"That could still be anything," Erwin disagreed. "People have different energy levels and different priorities." But he carried on guessing all the same. His suggestions got more and more outlandish until the game broke down over an argument about whether or not the people who checked manhole covers worked for the government. Finally, with a weak, shivery laugh, Erwin said, "Alright, alright. Did you go to a college or a university?"

“Neither,” Levi replied simply, noting that his voice had been getting softer. “Dropped out of high school and got my GED. Always meant to go to university, but it never happened.”

"What would you have gone for?"

“Social work,” Levi replied without batting an eyelash. It was probably obvious to Erwin that this was something he’d thought about a lot. “Shit load of good it would do now. I’m glad I didn’t waste the time.”

"I guess whether or not it's a waste depends on what you could use from your education. Hanji's is serving humanity well. Their knowledge probably saved their own life as well before my unit arrived."

"Well, I've survived in the open for this long without a degree, and I intend to survive a lot longer," Levi said, though his voice didn't sound like that would be the case.

"I got a sense of that," Erwin said dryly. There was a great big question mark hanging in the air between them--the ugly, unresolved mess of that knife and what it meant to Levi. Erwin doubted Levi would try to kill him again, but it was still a significant elephant in the room. Before he had a chance to open that line of discussion, though, Levi was speaking again.

"Did you go to college? The military pays for that kind of stuff, right?"

"They did. Sociology and political science," Erwin answered reluctantly. "Mine came in handy post-apocalypse as well, only for different reasons."

"How have your studies helped at all?” Levi asked dubiously.

"They’ve been useful in my dealings with people," Erwin said vaguely. "And the people in charge of those people. The end of the world has been surprisingly political. Even out here where the groups are focused on survival there's a kind of political dynamic to the hierarchies they develop."

“Fair enough. So have you been doing these rescues the whole time?"

Erwin paused to think back on the timeline and shook his head. "I wasn't doing evacuations in the beginning. A number of governments pulled vital personnel long before it got bad. Most of the scientists on the Sina never saw the infection up close, if you can believe that. It turns out the WHO actually had plans in place for a pandemic situation and knew who they wanted. They came under a lot of fire for their slow response to the Ebola outbreaks in 2014. Their focus back then was on research, not on leadership, so they were slow to organize a global response. This list was made in response to that confusion and intended for any serious outbreak situation. Hanji was on it. They’re listed as high priority, but they were in Toronto when everything shut down and the WHO lost track of them. If they hadn't been at a conference, they would have been evacuated from their home in Germany."

Levi nodded slowly. “Then what did you do before these missions?”

Erwin felt his lips purse, but he didn’t deny Levi an answer--refused to cover up the mishandling that had happened from the outset. "I was responsible for a full company with orders to stop the spread," he said tensely. "They knew it was hopeless and they sent us anyway hoping to slow it down enough for evacuations to proceed. They evacuated me as they made cannon fodder of my men."

Levi scowled, his nose wrinkling in disgust. “That’s all kinds of fucked up,” he grumbled, though he was unable to keep the heat of anger and indignation for long. “Were you on duty when shit hit the fan?”

"I was. When the story broke on the news I was sitting in a bar and grill watching the game with some friends. They were furious when the bartender changed the channel, but he had this look on his face. I told them to go to DC because their chances of being evacuated there were greater, but it was overrun days later. I don't know if they'd even made it there yet." He was quiet for a moment, but his voice did not betray any of the things he must have been feeling. "Where were you?" he asked.

“On a business trip in Maine,” Levi replied quietly, patting Erwin’s arm as if to comfort him, but he was certain that neither of them could feel it. “Though I got back to NYC quick. We left during the quarantine, me and a huge group of people I knew. We barely made it out before they firebombed it.”

"Were all those people lost?" Erwin asked him.

Levi fell silent again, his breathing the only sound he made. He was hardly even shivering anymore. "It's a long ride from NYC to Toronto," he murmured.

Erwin did not apologize. He'd been telling people how sorry he was since the beginning for a thousand deaths he'd never seen, even more deaths that he had, people he'd never known and people he'd loved like family. He'd never seen it do a lick of good for any of them. "Why Toronto?” He asked instead, quiet and respectful, but not somber. You can't let the cold get into your head.

"We were supposed to meet up with another group. We stopped hearing from them before we crossed Buffalo."

“The cell towers are down. If your friends are out there, they wouldn’t be able to contact you.” Erwin didn’t say they might have survived, but he didn't feel it was too optimistic to believe in the possibility. Levi had survived.

"Well," Levi murmured, "I'm headed south now. I guess that makes me selfish, right? Putting my own safety before theirs." He kind of snorted at the thought. When had he ever not been selfish? He was bossy, indulgent. He was shocked to find out that saying it was almost painful.

"I think it's a gray area," Erwin said honestly. "You don't know for sure they're alive and continuing in the open as you have been would be suicide. Sometimes you can only deal in certainties and the only certainty you had was that you were alive and we were there."

"Maybe," Levi replied. "I don't suppose it matters. They'll make it without me or they won't." Too much time had passed for him to make a difference now anyways. Why was he still so bent on getting there when those who were alive had likely moved?

"Did they know about the naval convoy?"

"I don't know."

That was unfortunate, but Erwin didn't say so. There were other bands of survivors out there, savvy groups that had found themselves advantageous boltholes and figured out how to take care of themselves. Maybe some of them had managed to avoid tearing themselves apart.

"They're tough," Levi said, a desperate certainty there, the kind that couldn’t be shaken because he wouldn’t believe otherwise. "They're fine."

"I believe you." And he did. If they were anything like Levi maybe some of them stood a chance. Erwin turned that thought over in his head, noticing for the first time the sharp ridge of Levi’s too-prominent spine against his own and wondering if his cheekbones had always been so defined or if it was just that hard to find something to live off of out here. Erwin wouldn’t have expected food to go scarce that soon, but if it hadn’t already then it would. This was no longer a world you could survive on your own.

He’d seen the surprise in Levi’s face just beyond the gleaming blade of that knife, like he had no idea why he had stopped. Erwin didn’t have any illusions about that. If the other man hadn’t hesitated, Erwin would be long dead and Levi would have gone over the Falls on his own, maybe surviving and maybe not.

“If you’re still interested in going to the Sina,” Erwin said slowly, “I haven’t rescinded the invitation.”

Levi turned his head and stared at the darkness over his shoulder, his brows drawn together in confusion. "Even after I tried to kill you? You're going to allow me to come with you despite the fact that your concerns were proven right and I caused all of this?” Was there any limit to how much of a better person Erwin was?

Erwin felt the other man turn, but did not move his own head much. He was keeping his chin tucked low, conserving heat. "My concerns were only half-founded. I am well aware that if you hadn’t decided not to put that knife in my head I would be dead now. I would not have been able to stop you. I could see the surprise on your face, like you had no idea that you didn’t want to kill me. But now you know.”

"To be honest, I don't know what I know anymore." Levi tucked his own chin in again and sighed.

“Do you still want to kill me?”

"Apparently not."

“And Hanji? Do you want to kill them?”

"Hanji is the last person in your company I would want to harm."

“That’s two things you know, then.”

Levi nodded slowly and closed his eyes. "Sure." The conversation had only proven to show Levi how _little_ he knew - where his group was, if they were alive or not, why he liked Hanji so much, why he couldn’t kill Erwin--but the mystery that most occupied his slowing thoughts was whether or not they would last the night.

“It wasn’t anything personal,” Levi said quietly. “I couldn’t expect you to just give me a humvee and supplies, and I thought maybe if I had those things, I could get to Toronto.”

Erwin thought about that for a minute before he replied. "Your methods may have been suspect, but I respect the resolve behind them."

“Lot of good it did,” Levi sighed. “I’m still not headed to Canada.”

“If you’d like to go, we’ll set you up as best as we can. We can’t give you a humvee, but Ymir is an engineer. She can get just about anything running. We’ll find you something fuel efficient and give you a siphon. We could spare some supplies--what you would have used anyway if you came with us. You’d have a good chance.” Of getting there at least. There was no telling what he would find once he reached Toronto, what the situation would be like there. As one of the largest cities in North America, Erwin personally wouldn’t risk it. If Levi’s group had possessed any foresight at all they would have realized that for themselves and left. If not …

Either way, it was highly unlikely Levi would manage to locate them, but Erwin wouldn’t stand in Levi’s way either if he wanted to try.

Levi let out a low sigh and shook his head. The same thoughts had crossed his mind and he was trying to weigh the crippling guilt with the amount of actual good he could do if he did just that.  Besides, he could wire a car himself just fine, but on these roads and knowing what wandered along them, it would take a humvee and no less to get there. After a long pause, he snorted. "Damn me for my selfishness. I couldn't do shit for them now, and I'd be up a creek if I couldn't find them."

“I wouldn’t call that selfishness.” Erwin realized when he felt Levi shake his head that he didn’t think the other man was shivering very much. He paused, trying to hold his body as still as he could in case his own shaking was masking Levi’s, but he only felt the slightest tremors running through his smaller frame. Perhaps it had something to do with the unconsciousness, the toll his temporary death had taken, but Levi appeared to be succumbing to the cold a great deal quicker than Erwin was. He didn’t mention it--he didn’t dare. Instead he turned, nudging Levi off his back and heaving his stiff body around so he was facing him. “Lean backwards into me.” He felt around in the dark with his foot until he found the space between Levi and the wall, insinuating it carefully so as not to fuck up his numb feet.

Levi wasn’t sure if it was the cold or the absolute strangeness of Erwin’s request that threw him off. “Huh?” He initially recoiled from Erwin’s touch, immediately suspicious. Historically speaking when someone wanted you that close, there were a million things they could do to dispose of you, and the checklist of possible homicides ran through Levi’s mind like it always had with no regards to Erwin having saved him twice and invited him to stay. Even when that did catch up to him, the instant answer was that it had been a front.

But _warmth_. When the knee-jerk suspicions of violence faded and the request seemed more practical, Erwin had settled against the wall and Levi very hesitantly leaned back against him, tense and not only because of the cold.

Erwin had known this was coming--that the way they’d been sitting was useless for sharing any real heat between them. It didn’t make it any less awkward pulling the naked, freezing body of an almost-stranger up against his own. He shifted uncomfortably, attempting to avoid any accidental contact to his equally frozen genitals as he folded his knees back up and pressed them as best as he could into the other man's sides. His arms went around Levi's chest, where he was pleasantly surprised to find that his cold fingers tucked perfectly into Levi's armpits, which were marginally warmer than the surrounding air.

"Bend your knees back up," Erwin reminded the tense man, "and find someplace for your fingers." He leaned his head sideways against the wall, trying to determine whether or not this was even making a difference.

Levi didn’t relax even as he pulled his limbs in tight. He wrapped his arms around Erwin’s and slipped his fingers between them and his chest. “This is helping a bit,” he murmured by way of thanks.

"Is it worth the overwhelming discomfort we're both experiencing?" There was a little seriousness to the question. How effective was this? He was tempted to try and rub Levi's arms or his own or both, but he wasn't sure at what point you were supposed to stop doing that.

“Yes, if it’s going to keep me alive,” Levi replied honestly.

Erwin leaned over Levi's shoulder, turning his wrist slightly so he could see the glowing hands on his watch. Less time had passed than he'd thought. Much less. He turned his wrist away quickly before Levi caught sight of that fact. "You're doing well for the amount of time that's passed."

Levi was quiet then, pensive. He had a feeling it wasn't even past midnight. Unsure what else to talk about but certain that they should talk, he sat silently until he finally asked, "So, what happens when we get to the ships?"

"In what way do you mean?"

Levi furrowed his brow. "I’ve never been on a large ship. Just talk about it."

“That would be a very long spiel.” Erwin protested. But he began anyway, organizing his thoughts as he went along. “Well, they’ll start by debriefing us all, and then they’ll send most of the company to an all military vessel we’re calling the barracks ship. As officers, Mike, Nanaba and I stay on the Sina, and Hanji will be there as well because that’s where the laboratories are all located. If you want to stay with the doctor, I’m sure they wouldn’t object to having an assistant in the lab.”

"Well, we're both already _debriefed_ so maybe it’ll save you some of the trouble,” Levi said.

Erwin laughed and it was weak, but genuine. “I’m putting my pants back on well before we get to the Sina, but if you want to become a nudist, power to you.”

"Nah," Levi snorted. "Once we get out of here, I'm going to put on so many clothes I won’t have to worry about getting bit. Hell, _if_ we get out of here. At least freezing to death would be a valid excuse for not going to Toronto … " He knew there was nothing he could do now, but he couldn't shake the terrible, lingering guilt.

Erwin wasn't willing to pull his arms out from beneath Levi's to pat the man, so he just squeezed him briefly. "If my opinion is worth anything to you, I think you made the right decision. If your friends are alive they aren't in Toronto, and if they're in Toronto they aren't alive. Either way, you won't find them there. You'll only get yourself killed trying."

Levi let out a long, low sigh. “Well, your opinion means more to me now than it did before we hit the river, so thanks,” he replied finally.

"I'm here all week," Erwin joked. There was absolutely no energy to it.

Ultimately, he ended up telling Levi about the Sina, her outrageous opulence, the outrageous opulence the refugees on board tried to maintain, the government officials and their families hosting parties where MREs were served on the ship's formal China. All in the name of morale. He shook Levi awake as his head began to nod, asking him questions, encouraging him to ask his own. He learned that Levi's favorite color was blue and that he particularly despised tomatoes unless they were green and fried. He told Levi stories about the bones he'd broken when he was a child, forgetting how the subject came up. He shook Levi some more, doubting he was even absorbing most of what Erwin said, but it was keeping him awake and he was keeping Levi awake.

Erwin declined slowly through the night, going silent for long periods and staring into the dark, sometimes right in the middle of a sentence. He would remember with a jolt where he was and what he was supposed to be doing and he'd have to shake Levi awake some more, forcing him to talk. It was unlikely that either of them were making sense. The Romeros, when they collided suddenly with the other side of the door, startled him every time, deep shocks like the kind that ran through you when you’d been partly asleep. He had no doubt he was having microbursts of unconsciousness.

Slowly, the gaps in their conversation, his monologues, lengthened. Staying awake had become something like physical agony, something he was forgetting the importance of fighting for.

Then at some point, Erwin lost track of time. 


	9. Flesh Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin finds the light at the end of the tunnel. And then drags Levi out with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another huge thanks to Mandy for her help as a beta for this chapter!

Erwin drifted through half-sleep for a long time--hours maybe, or two lifespans. He never quite nodded off, kept awake by shivering and sheer force of will. He barely made it, losing track several times of the exercises he was performing in his head, memories blurring into dreams, jolted several times out of hypnagogia. Near misses. He nudged Levi each time he did this to see if the other man was still awake. Levi typically responded, sometimes with something as coherent as "what?" but more often than not, it was an angry grunt or a return nudge. He was consistent on those until the last time Erwin nudged.

He didn't feel it, couldn't possibly have. He couldn't even feel the cold anymore and he'd long stopped shivering.

"Levi." Erwin shook him again, still receiving no response, and reached up to lightly smack the other man's face, the soft pop of flesh on flesh loud in the near-silence. Levi felt cold--colder than Erwin's hands had been where he'd mostly kept them tucked beneath the man's arms. Levi's carotid pulse was so slow that it took Erwin one long terrible moment to find it. He thought to try changing their positions again, to share more of his body heat with him, but he didn't think it would do much good. Levi needed more than what little bit of warmth his own shivering, frigid body could provide. He needed to get back to the company.

Erwin's watch read 4:45. It wouldn't be light for another hour and fifteen minutes at least, but he had always gotten the men up before sunrise to pack their gear so they would be ready to move out when the first light of the day touched the road. Today they would do the same without him, only they would be organizing a search that morning as well. It was strange to imagine them moving somewhere right over their heads, alive and well and completely oblivious to the men struggling for their lives just below. The situation seemed ridiculous when he looked at it that way.

Erwin would never admit how long it took him to get to his feet and retrieve his pants. They hadn't dried out much and dragging them on in the dark was an exercise in patience. Between the dark and the wet clinging, he could only hope he got them situated the right way. They felt okay, though it concerned him that the cold damp wasn't more uncomfortable than it was. Once his boots were on, he had to lean against the wall for a long time, stretching his legs out and stomping his feet in attempt to prepare them for the long trek down the stairs. He returned to the door and pulled Levi up by the wrists before he felt quite steady, ducking under the man and bending his smaller body across his shoulders.  If he encountered a Romero this way, he may still be able to lean against the wall and kick it down the stairs. Maybe. He was so weak and shaky that he didn't entirely trust his legs to do what they were supposed to.

As an afterthought, he retrieved Levi's boots as well before he left.

It was slow going as he made his way back down all those stairs they'd climbed the night before, stopping occasionally to listen for Romeros and jostle Levi a little, calling his name.

Levi let out a low, quiet groan, though he didn't move. All of the movement had served to wake him a bit, shaking him from the deep dreaming state approaching death, but he'd woken confused and in pain. He could feel little but the deep aching, though he somehow discerned that Erwin was carrying him.

"What … ?" he started, his breath still shallow and weak.

"I was hoping you were conscious," Erwin grunted, pausing to address Levi. "You don't mind my entire company seeing your bare ass, do you? I didn't want to wrestle you into underwear that would only kill you anyway."

"Not as much as dying," Levi huffed laboriously against Erwin's back. "Have they found us?"

"Not yet," Erwin said. "But I'm taking us back down to the river. We'd do better to be someplace noticeable. It's almost five so they'll be looking."

Levi shifted just slightly on Erwin's shoulder. "I can walk."

"I doubt that. Let's not try it until we're on level ground." Erwin didn't think he could pick him up again either in the dark on the stairs. It wouldn't be a fun thing to try in any case. And he certainly wouldn't succeed in catching him if he fell.

There was another groan, but Levi didn't protest any further. He faded in and out of consciousness as they continued down the the tunnel, and at one point he finally managed to murmur, "Watch for the body."

"I'm staying on the opposite side," Erwin assured him. "I think we already passed it but I'm not sure. Either my nose has acclimated to the smell or I'm too numb to smell anything."

Farther down the tunnel, though, he proved himself wrong on both counts when for a few minutes the sharp reek of decay penetrated the acclimation or the numbness and became dizzying. The body remained as still and unmoving as they passed it, though Erwin steered well clear just to be sure. "Gross …" Levi breathed against his back.

The farther down they went, the more uncertain Erwin’s footing became. Between the violent tremors in his legs and the lack of a handrail, the bare concrete becoming more slippery and weathered as they descended, it was only a matter of time before the commander lost his footing. He managed to throw himself backwards at the last minute to keep from pitching forward down the stairs, but it was an overcorrection and it landed him hard on his ass on the unforgiving edge of a step, Levi nearly sliding from his shoulders.

“Fucking hell.”

“I can carry myself,” Levi insisted again. “We’re not going to make it like this.”

“We’re going to make it, Rose,” Erwin grunted, easing carefully to his feet. “Trust me.”

“My name’s not Rose …” Between the cold and his fading consciousness, movie references were clearly beyond Levi’s level of comprehension.

“My bad. I must have grabbed the wrong person in the water.” The stairs were brightening up a little as they neared the bottom--not by much, but after spending the night in a tunnel so dark it seemed like oblivion, that small illumination could have been a supernova.

When Erwin finally stepped out of the tunnel the sky was still dark, though it wasn't entirely black. Signs of light were beginning to color the east where deep indigo faded into lighter hues. It would be a while yet, but dawn was breaking.

The bank and the water and the trees were still black as pitch, hiding who knew what. On top of that, any sound that might alert him to an attack would be obscured by the crashing of the Falls. Up ahead, a light flicked on briefly, gone before Erwin fully registered what he’d seen. He wasn’t prone to imagining things like that, but it had been a long, terrible night.

“Put me down,” Levi said, and he might have sounded angry if he wasn’t so winded.

Erwin kneeled, allowing Levi's feet to brush the ground so he could slide off and catch himself. "Someone has a flashlight up ahead," and right as he spoke it came on again, the barest, begrudging flicker. The person carrying it knew better than to risk leaving it on as they walked. "Sit here. I'll go meet them."

Despite Erwin's order Levi tried to follow him, but his numb feet caught on themselves and he lost his balance. He fell to his knees, unable to feel the way the bank scraped and tore them, and sighed, finally sitting back. "I'll wait here then …" he grumbled. Erwin had not gone far before Levi realized it was also impossible to remain seated before he let himself lie sideways. He fought a little longer to keep his eyes open, but that, too, was a lost battle.

Erwin tried jogging first, but didn't trust the feeling in his legs enough to feel safe moving that quickly. There was little to gain in calling out either when the deep roar of the waterfall churned blithely just a handful of yards upriver, its heavy white mist the brightest thing around. Somewhere underneath all that water their humvee still sat.

It was Connie and Sasha up ahead, both wearing long raincoats and scarves. Their noses and cheeks were red and they looked uncomfortable and shifty like their obscured senses were making them nervous as well. They were all almost on top of each other in the dark before Erwin noticed any of this, or before they noticed him.

"Commander!" Connie cried first, relief evident in his sharp exhalation.

Sasha’s first words were rather more useful. "Assistant Commander Zacharius was topside with a pair of binoculars and he thought he spotted your uniform shirt somewhere around here but in the dark he wasn't sure so he sent a bunch of us down.”

"There are people on the other bank and in the tunnels behind the Falls," Connie added, eying Erwin like he’d shown up after being pronounced dead. "They lowered Sasha and I down here, but the others are looking for a tunnel that comes all the way down to the bank."

Erwin frowned, thinking they'd just been in one of those tunnels and not seen a soul, but perhaps the one they'd spent the night in was something else--maintenance access or something the staff used. There was no telling how many underground paths wound their way around the sides and back of The Horseshoe Falls. "One of you give me your rain gear," he said, too tired to do much more than tell them what he wanted done. "Levi is with me and he's hypothermic."

"No offence, Commander, but you look pretty hypothermic yourself," Connie told him, shrugging out of his gear and passing it over to him. Sasha was pulling hers off as well, so Erwin slid Connie’s over his own bare torso, forced to leave it open because the other man was so much smaller. He was sorry to say it didn't make much of a difference, but in Levi's case at least it would cover him.

"Radio the others and let them know you found us," Erwin prompted. He headed back for Levi, trailing Connie and Sasha in his wake as the three of them picked their way through the rocks and weeds along the bank.

Sasha nodded even though she was behind the blonde, her radio already in hand. "Connie and I found Commander Smith on the Canadian side. He and Levi are both alive, probably hypothermic." When Erwin nodded his agreement, the girl amended, “Definitely hypothermic.”

“What’s their status?” Hanji’s voice came through immediately. “Are they both conscious?”

Erwin held out his hand for the radio. “We spent the night in a ground-level tunnel about a hundred yards downriver from the Falls,” he told Mike, who he assumed was listening. “I’m not sure where it surfaces. There’s a set of double doors part way down and we heard Romeros moving on the other side, so use extreme caution when you clear it. It sounded like a good number.”

“We found one tunnel entrance,” Mike replied. “I’m assuming that it leads down and splits into the main tunnel and the maintenance tunnel, but we’re sending Mikasa and a team down to scope it out.”

“Erwin,” Hanji began, clearly wanting to ask him more questions about their health, but they were coming up on the spot where he’d left Levi and he didn’t want to sit around down here chatting in the open.

“We’re about to head your way,” Erwin told the doctor. “We’ll answer all the questions you need us to at the top.”

"Damn, are you sure he's still alive?" Connie muttered, biting his lip as he peered around Erwin at Levi’s limp form. "I can carry him for you if you’re injured. There was blood on your shoulders. Is it bad?"

Under the influence of numb exhaustion and creeping hypothermia, Erwin had forgotten about his injuries except in the most abstract sense. He hadn't felt them in hours, had pulled Levi over his shoulders without feeling so much as a twinge. How he was still standing he did not know, looking down at the dark blood that was visible beneath the lapel of Connie’s open rain jacket. "I sustained injuries in the river," he confirmed. "No bites."

Erwin searched for a pulse again and found one, though he’d been expecting it. Levi had just been speaking not minutes ago and he didn’t expect him to die that quickly or easily. He was quickly realizing that Levi was like crabgrass. You could pull him up by the roots over and over again and he would just keep surviving.

As if the thought had summoned him from the dead, he reached up and took Erwin’s hand in his. The grip was harsh at first, but it softened and Levi laced his fingers through Erwin’s, a stupid grin pulling at his lips.

“I’ll never let go, Jack.”

Erwin’s laugh was so sudden and so genuine that it made Connie and Sasha jump. The sound was badly out of place, incongruous with their circumstances. They were bleeding and numb, sprawled miserably over death’s cold threshold, but Erwin had laughed. He patted the back of Levi’s hand as it relaxed in his, the strength in his grip ebbing.

“Why the hell is he calling you Jack?” Connie asked, completely floored. “Is he mistaking you for someone?”

“He’s probably delirious,” Sasha murmured in agreement.

"No, he’s fine,” Erwin promised them. “He's been in and out of consciousness, but he's still lucid when he's awake so I think his chances are good." Erwin held out his hand for Sasha’s rain gear and dragged Levi into a more upright position, stuffing his limp arms into sleeves with a little help from Connie, who passed the light to Sasha and pushed his own sleeves up like he was about to be doing some serious work. It was serious work. Limp, flopping limbs were almost comically ridiculous and dealing with them in Erwin’s exhausted state was a headache. When the commander finally yanked the coat closed as quickly and efficiently as possible, Sasha flipped off the light, relieved to plunge them back into the relative safety of darkness, where they would be invisible until the sun crested the horizon.

"One of you should carry him, yes.” Erwin said, answering Connie’s earlier question. “Levi said that my back looked like it needed stitches."

"Not a problem," Connie said, hefting Levi onto his own shoulder.

Erwin nodded. "Sasha, tell Mike to radio us when it's clear. We don't need to be right behind the door as they're firing high powered rounds into it." The idea of walking back up all of those stairs exhausted him mightily, but this time there was certain to be a warm, dry bedroll at the top of them. That was worth climbing for. "We'll wait in the tunnel on the stairs several yards down. By the time we get there it may even be clear."

“Mike says roger. Hanji also wants to know if your thoughts are still coherent.”

“They can examine us both at the top,” Erwin promised, reaching to take Connie’s weapon from him so he could focus on carrying Levi. The younger man ducked his head obligingly as the strap passed over his head, but didn’t otherwise react.

Sasha and Connie weren't sure what to do with their commanding officer. He looked like he could use a shoulder to lean on, but he didn't request one, choosing instead to follow behind the others with Connie’s rifle. They weren’t sure if they should ask about it or if Sasha should go ahead and duck under one of his arms, but he seemed like he had other things on his mind. The bank and the river made it easy for Erwin to keep an eye on their six, providing little opportunity for a Romero to come at them from behind. He kept up with them, but they were also moving a little slower than they might have even with Levi in tow. If Erwin noticed, he didn’t say anything about it.

"Look out for a body in there,” was all he said as they drew level with the stairs. “Right side."

“It’s safe to use the light?” Sasha asked them. “No Romeros, right?”

“Wait until we get far enough up that it won’t be visible from outside.”

“Oh, right …”

It was both harder and easier inside the tunnel. Erwin could brace himself against the rough wall, but as he did so he was also walking up enough stairs to put a Japanese shrine to shame.

“Sir,” Sasha finally suggested hesitantly, “I can offer you a shoulder if you--” She flinched, her voice drowning in the impossibly loud and constant pelting of bullets against the doors up ahead of them. Her weapon came up immediately, but she lowered it again when her head caught up to muscle memory. Occasionally, a stray bullet would whiz over their heads, high-powered rounds passing easily through the hollow metal door, but most of them passed through Romeros first and lost their penetrating power before they reached the metal.

“All clear,” Krista’s voice finally came over the radio. “We’re coming down to break the lock.”

Erwin pushed off the wall and moved with the others up the stairs and towards the ruined doors, which looked awful under the beam of their flashlight. Someone had painted them white--Erwin supposed with some kind of sealant to keep them from rusting--and so they did actually resemble enormous slabs of Swiss cheese. Voices on the other side complained in muffled tones about not being able to use small plastic explosives anymore for things like this and how they really should have brought thermite and so on. They were drowned out as someone attempted to knock the lock off with the butt of their rifle. It was much harder than it looked on television, and they ultimately had to send someone back up to the humvee for bolt cutters, which was another frustrating wait. By the time they opened the door, Erwin was numb in so many different ways that he didn't feel much of anything when the door finally cracked open and Hanji came flying through the gap asking questions so rapidly they might have been speaking in German and Erwin wouldn’t have realized it.

They went to Levi first, seeing immediately that his condition was much worse, scowling as they felt his face, his hands, his toes. Then they ordered Connie to take him up and wrap him in as many bedrolls as he could, their shoulder turning sideways as they passed, though they didn’t follow with their eyes. They were already focused on Erwin.

"We discovered last night that the building runs on a propane system," they told him. "We have hot water for water bottles. It won't be as hot as it really needs to be, but anything is better than nothing. Sasha said you were injured."

Erwin pushed the rain gear over his shoulders, letting it catch on his elbows so Hanji could get a good look at the strips of damp, bloodstained shirt shirt still awkwardly wrapped around him. Hanji took over from there, batting his hands away and moving to untie them before he'd even handed his weapon off to Mike.

“Wasn’t the shirt Levi’s?” they asked him as they peeled the fabric away, Sasha raising the light obligingly to point it at the doctor’s hands. There was a note of interest in their tone that made Erwin wonder what conclusion they’d drawn from that. “Did he do this for you?”

But “A lot happened last night,” was all Erwin said about it, hoping Hanji was too distracted by all the work cut out for them to ask anymore questions about it.

"Hmm. I'll need better light to tell but it does look like you’ll needs stitches." They took his arm without asking if he needed the support and went with him up the rest of the stairs.

"Why are we not ready to move out?" Erwin asked them in dismay, his eyes going to the collection of air mattresses and bedrolls that still occupied the large food court.

Connie was already lowering Levi into a nest of bed rolls, but as he moved to start pulling blankets over him, Hanji called, "Remove that raincoat! It's wet for Christ's sake!" and the young man froze like a deer in front of a freight train, staring down at Levi's unconscious body with a clear aversion to the idea of his nakedness.

Sasha rolled her eyes and kneeled to do as Hanji said, stripping the raincoat from Levi with little more ease than they’d enjoyed when they initially put it it on him. It was halfway off before Levi opened his eyes, brow furrowed, and glowered weakly at the young woman, who’d paused nervously like she wanted to explain but had no idea what to say. Levi raised a curled fist and nailed her in the nose.

The punch had been weak, but Sasha fell back onto her ass all the same, her hands flying protectively to her face. "Hold still," she grumbled. "We're putting you in dry clothes!"

Despite his own exhaustion, Erwin couldn't help but laugh.

"Try to keep him awake!" Hanji said, their grip on Erwin firm as he settled himself on the edge of one of the bedrolls. "Get him to help you dress him, but don't exhaust him so much he falls asleep. Armin," they added as the blonde approached. "Grab someone to help you and start filling hot water bottles. There should be some in the med kits. I saw them the other day when I was taking inventory. Don't forget to put socks on his hands and feet," they said, turning back to Sasha. Connie had slipped away to get clothes before he was asked to deal any further with their naked, unhappy hitchhiker. "Bring as many pairs as we can spare. I want some for Erwin as well. And get him a dry uniform if Connie isn’t already doing it."

Sasha hopped up to do as Hanji said, still rubbing her nose. The doctor’s attention was already on Erwin's wet boots, where they were untying them and pulling them efficiently off his frozen feet. "I can do that," he protested, but Hanji ignored him in favor of feeling his toes in the same way they had done with Levi.

"I'm not a medical doctor. I've had absolutely no medical training, not even basic EMT stuff," they began. "I don't think the river was cold enough to cause any frostbite, but this is a little beyond the limits of my expertise. If you have any damage, it's not visible. Can you feel your toes?" They asked, digging a fingernail into his big one.

"Barely. I do feel that. I did my best to keep them warm last night. I told Levi to do the same, but it was dark. I had no idea where his feet were."

Hanji nodded, but they repeated the uncomfortable experiment on each of his toes anyway until they were satisfied he hadn't sustained any serious damage.

Krista had taken over the task of helping Levi, apologizing again and again as she finally got the raingear off of him and helped him into some underwear and a shirt. “I’m sorry, I know this is uncomfortable …” she said for likely the third or fourth time as she lowered the white shirt over his head.

Levi slipped his arms clumsily through the sleeves and let Krista slide the rest over his chest. “Thanks,” he said as he finally curled up on the bedroll again. “Tell Sasha I’m sorry.” He was surprised - pleasantly or unpleasantly, he wasn’t sure - to find that he was remembering the names of the members of the convoy.

“Tell me yourself, asshole,” Sasha grumbled as she returned to the group and started shoving socks onto the man’s feet. She managed to get two pairs on him despite his limp legs before Armin returned with hot water bottles and started piling some of them around Levi, though he paused after a moment as an idea occurred to him.

“The commander and Levi should stay close together. That way, they can share body heat and we can maximize the use of the water bottles.”

Hanji simply grunted in response. They were seated behind Erwin, leaned in close to his injuries. Someone came and placed a first aid kit at their side, but no one had seen who. It was just there when the doctor turned and reached into it uncertainly for a pair of latex gloves. "I've only done stitches once before. I had to improvise some of the knots, but it held. You may want a local painkiller." They tossed the sealed packet back into the kit without opening it. They had more alcohol than they had gloves, so it made more sense to simply clean their hands, saving the gloves for a time they might need to handle blood that was actually hazardous.

Erwin shook his head. "Numbing me up would be a waste. Do it now while the cold is still doing a good job on its own."

Hanji's mouth twisted doubtfully, but they went to work, cleaning the area and disinfecting it thoroughly with one of the bottles of alcohol they'd gotten from the outdoor store. They wanted to use iodine, but Erwin insisted they save it for the water.

“Are you going to flinch?” Hanji asked him. “I haven’t done this enough to do a good job if you squirm. I’m barely experienced enough to do a good job anyway.”

“I won’t move,” the man promised, and he didn’t. Erwin barely twitched when the alcohol made contact with his wounds. Hanji warned him when the needle was brought out, warning him again, unnecessarily, not to move. He certainly felt _that_ , but the pain was manageable. He was more focused on staying upright through the whole procedure, crashing quickly now that they were reasonably safe and there was someone else to keep an eye on things while he slept. By the time Hanji finished up with him and gave him a shot of antibiotics as a preventative they insisted upon, his arms were taking quite a bit of his body weight.

"Huddle up close to Levi," Hanji said as they taped the last of his new bandages down, patting his bicep when they finished. "Do you need help changing?"

"I'm not in that bad of shape," Erwin tried to joke, though he did accept Hanji's help with the shirt, not wanting to jostle and stretch his new stitches too much. He wasn’t sure he could stay awake through a repair job if he tore them. The pants he did himself, peeling the wet fabric over his hips with a disgusted wince, either oblivious or indifferent to the fact that Levi had cracked his eyes open for only a second and gotten an excellent view. Hanji traded with him, exchanging pants for underwear, but as he stepped into them their eyes were on the quivering muscles in his legs.

“That’s enough,” the doctor said, setting the dry pair aside for him to put on later. “You look like you’re about to keel over dead.”

There was already a spot made up next to Levi and Erwin crawled into it with surprisingly little protest, his back just barely butting up against Levi's through many, many layers of blanket and bedroll.

"You know, you'd warm up more effectively if you lay back to front," Hanji pointed out, but when Erwin didn't move from where he was lying they didn't press the issue. They simply piled a few water bottles around him with a sigh and tucked a beanie over the top of his damp head. "Can I convince you to lay back to front, Levi?" They asked the smaller man as they leaned over and pulled a beanie over his head as well, pushing the longer strands of his hair up into it with their fingers to get them off his face.

Levi peeled open one eye and peered at Hanji. He finally asked, "How much of a difference will it make?"

"If I stick water bottles between you it would make a significant enough difference that you'd notice." They rolled their eyes. "Weren't you just doing this in a tunnel all night?"

"Not exactly," Erwin said simply, too tired now that he was laying down to give a shit about how much difference it would make. It wasn’t the contact he minded--it was moving. Short of a Romero attack, he couldn’t see himself going anywhere right then, not even a couple of inches.

Without another word, Levi rolled over, slowly, like a slug. His limbs were still uncomfortably numb and he worried about the position he would find them in, but he finally managed to press his chest to Erwin's back. He reached for one of the water bottles and shoved it between them before his unfeeling fingers began searching for a grip on the blanket.

It took him entirely too long to get situated even with Hanji’s help, but when he did he realized that the doctor had been right. Erwin's back, water bottles or not, was warming quickly against him, and after a few moments he began to shiver again.

Relieved to know that he had not killed them, and searching for more warmth, he ventured to put his arm over Erwin's side, though not completely around him. Erwin grumbled something unintelligible at that, but otherwise did not protest, either recognizing the merit in the action or feeling too wrung out to do anything about it.

"Stubborn boys," Hanji chided, taking several more blankets and draping them over the two of them. "If you'd done this last night when it made sense to, you might be in less of a predicament right now."

"I doubt that," Erwin answered, his voice muffled by all the fabric he'd yanked up over the lower half of his face. "Too wet."

"Too _filthy_ ," Levi added, although his blanket was also pulled up to the rim of the beanie.

Mike returned shortly from the bathroom with another handful of the hot water bottles and began placing them, though his bias for Erwin was clear. "You're not going to like this," he said quietly, "but between losing another humvee and dealing with the two of you, I think it would be wise to wait another night before we move out. You two need to get your body temperature back up before we move you."

Erwin actually opened his eyes to look at him. He was tempted to protest, to demand that they move as soon as Levi was stable, but he thought about it for a few minutes longer. The looming deadline tugged at his awareness, but if they moved now and they ran into trouble, they would not have Erwin immediately available to instruct them. Mike and Nanaba were both capable leaders, but the idea of being incapacitated when they might need him made him uneasy. "Wake me at noon to check our status and we'll decide then. If we move out at noon, we've only wasted half a day."

Mike pursed his lips, but he finally nodded and stood again. “Understood,” he said quietly. “But you won’t be the judge of your condition.” He left to regroup with Armin, who had begun passing out breakfast MREs.

"That'll be my call," Hanji declared cheerfully. "So you two better cooperate."

“You’re not even a fucking medical doctor,” Levi murmured, teeth chattering.

“Tough shit, Tiny. I’m the closest thing you have.”

"Hanji, take some of these water bottles and move them over to Levi. He needs more than I do." What he did not add was that Mike had given him far more than he'd given the other man to start with.

But Hanji was already redistributing the items, tucking them under blankets and around limbs. They put most between the men, though, so they could share them. "When you warm up some I'll be back to put more by your feet. Don't want to send hot blood to a cold heart."

Erwin snorted as though he found something funny about that, but did not offer any explanation. "Is it safe for Levi to sleep?"

"I have no idea," Hanji answered honestly. "Probably, since he's shivering again."

“We’re gonna find out,” Levi sighed, burying his face in between Erwin’s shoulder blades as though that might quiet their voices, thankfully too short to pose a threat to the commander's injuries. He pulled his hand away from Erwin and cradled it against his chest with the other, tugging the blanket tighter around himself.

Mike returned to them then with two MRE packs. “Do you feel well enough to eat?” he asked, kneeling beside Erwin again. “I can get it heated for you, if you like.”

"I think I'm too tired.”

"And I don't want all the blood moving to your stomach," Hanji added. "I don't know if that would be bad or not, but I know I want it going to your extremities before they start falling off."

“I’ll hold off then,” Mike said, standing and passing one to Hanji. “If you change your mind, I’ll be within whispering distance.” He returned to his bedroll nearby where his own MRE was heating up and sat.

Erwin hummed his acknowledgment and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and telling his body to relax one limb at a time. He hadn't realized how exhausting it could be just shivering. "Hanji," he said, cracking an eye open again. "Should we drink something?"

Hanji jumped as though they'd been startled. "Shit, you're right. You're probably dehydrated aren't you? I don't guess it would hurt if the water is warm. It might even help warm you up. I'll go get you some."

Levi audibly groaned. “I don’t want any more water in my body,” he grumbled as Hanji stood and slipped away with a helpful comment about how the body was mostly water whether it’s been in Niagara River or not. He wondered if he should mention to Hanji that he’d drowned, but it didn’t seem important now. He was going to live, so what did it matter? Either way, it would be a while before he wanted to let more water into his mouth.

“Oh yeah,” Mike said, pulling something from his MRE. “These come with some tea. I don’t know if the water will get warm enough to properly steep it, but--”

“What kind of tea?” Levi asked, lifting his face from Erwin’s back.

“Uh … something off-brand. I dunno.”

“So it’s black tea … We could steep it but it would be weak. I’ll take it if you don’t want it.”

"You can have it later. Tea is a diuretic and it would only dehydrate you more. Sorry," Hanji said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "I know you had a rough night. It'll be something to look forward to when you're feeling better."

Levi sighed and nuzzled back into his warm hole of the blanket and hot water bottles and Erwin’s back. “Fine,” he grumbled. Feeling was beginning to come back to his body, and it felt horrible. He ached all over and burned and itched, and he could finally feel all of the cuts and bruises he’d gotten in the night. Between tripping up the stairs and falling onto the bank, his knees were shredded and when he felt how sticky with blood they’d become he pulled them away from the back of Erwin’s pants.

“What are you doing?” the blonde asked, feeling him fidget.

“My knees are gross,” Levi said, and the apology was clear in his voice.

Erwin snorted. “Don’t worry about it. I have no one to impress.” He wasn’t sure they were physically touching down there anyway with all the warm things piled around them. Surely not.

“You just got into clean clothes. I would expect the same courtesy, so don’t bleed on me.”

“A little human blood is the last thing that concerns me right now. Just get warm so we can leave at noon.”

“Do you want me to clean your knees up?” Hanji asked, kneeling back beside them with a couple of canteens in tow. “We were so concerned with your body temperature that I didn’t take a look at any of your cuts. Have you been vaccinated for tetanus?”

“Uh … ”

“Well, shit. We may just have to hope that you don’t get it, then. There’s nothing for tetanus in the med kit. I guess because military personnel are all up to date on their vaccinations. Let me at least clean your cuts. Only uncover one limb at a time though. We’ll do this fast.” They pulled their supplies closer and started getting them ready.

Levi groaned and didn’t move the blanket to reveal a leg. Instead, he burrowed deeper into the covers as though trying to hide. “It can wait. Do it in the car.”

“The gangrene may have already set in by then,” Hanji said seriously. “Or the staph. Then we would have to cut off your legs.”

Erwin pulled the blankets up over his head. “Give Hanji your leg or I’ll go ahead and cut them both off myself,” he grumbled, ready for all of the talking to be over. If they started bickering right then he was going to get up and leave, warmth or no warmth.

Levi slowly uncurled one of his legs and stuck it out where Hanji could get a hold of it. Hanji firmly took his ankle and dribbled alcohol over the scrapes, swooping in and wiping the grit off of them before the burn could even register. By the time it fully hit him, Hanji was finished, tossing the soiled supplies aside and squeezing antibiotic ointment out of a tube onto a fresh gauze pad as they cackled, “I am the booboo predator. The devourer of injuries.”

“What the fuck …” Levi grumbled as he stuck his other leg out. He didn’t flinch as the alcohol hit exposed wounds, numb to the wet burn.

The doctor repeated this process with each of the injuries they could immediately reach, swiping at all of them them with alcohol, but only covering the worst. They told Levi as they worked that they had believed in the leave it the fuck alone method until they met Erwin’s bunch. “Not these guys,” they were saying. “If I’d left them to their own devices they’d get all sorts of flesh-eating diseases and their extremities would crumble off like fancy cheese.”

“That’s disgusting.” Levi physically recoiled from Hanji at the thought, shrivelling back beneath the blanket and closing his eyes. “If you don’t mind, Four Eyes, try to be obnoxious at a lower volume for a few hours.” He covered his face again and pulled the beanie over his still cold ears. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing,” they said at the exact same volume. “You don’t have any injuries under your boxers do you? Now there’s a couple things you wouldn’t want to amputate--”

“ _Good night_ , doctor,” Levi said insistently.

“ _Good morning_ , Levi,” they cackled. “I’m going to assume you don’t want to lose your nibbly bits, but if you contract necrotizing fasciitis you can cut them off yourself.”

Levi didn’t dignify the comment with a response. He was already quickly fading, tired and ready to escape from this sore, burning, embarrassing reality. But something came to mind that he had to voice before he slipped into sleep.

“There was room for two people on that fucking door.”

Erwin had missed the tail end of the conversation entirely, having lost his own battle with unconsciousness and passed out cold, his breathing deep and slow.

  
  


When they woke the commander, he wasn’t feeling much better than he had when he’d been freezing to death. If anything, he felt worse because his limbs were mostly thawed out, allowing him to experience the river’s lingering antipathy in excruciating detail. He forced his eyes open and squinted blearily at Mike through his eyelashes. “It’s noon?”

Mike looked at his watch. "Well, closer to noon thirty. Everything is packed up and ready to be loaded up if you want, though I don't know how much farther we could get on a day or if we're guaranteed decent shelter that far down the road. Everyone is eating lunch at the moment."

"We've wasted too much time here already," Erwin replied stubbornly. "If Levi is fit to move, I am."

Mike glanced up at Hanji (who shrugged unhelpfully) before he started shaking Levi gently. "Hey," he said softly. "Time to wake up."

Levi's only response was a groan as he rolled onto his other side.

Hanji crouched beside the mass of blankets and reached under with surprising care to take Levi's hand in theirs. They felt his fingers, nose, and ears, then checked his pulse and reached under the blankets again to feel around for his toes.

Levi instinctively jerked his knees up so that the digits were out of reach. "Stop poking at me," he growled before he rolled over into Erwin's back again.

“I think he’s fine to move,” the doctor pronounced drily. “Though both of you should stay bundled up. In the back, preferably, but I know you won’t do that.” This last was directed specifically at Erwin.

“We may have to sleep in the humvees tonight, but that’s six hours more progress we’ll have made today.” Erwin sat up slowly, shaking Levi free of him in the process.

Levi let out a long, low sigh before he finally wriggled free of the blankets and now tepid hot water bottles. He stood slowly, taking the blanket with him.

"Now that you're both awake," Mike said, extending a hand to Erwin to help him stand, "can I ask what exactly happened that made you go over the Falls?"

“The gear shift stuck,” Erwin said simply, finding his uniform pants where Hanji had left them and stepping carefully into the legs. Levi looked up at Erwin, his expression almost sheepish, but he didn't say a word.

Mike glanced between the two of them. "And that's all?"

Erwin caught Mike noticing the sheepish look and added, “Levi got a bit hysterical. I didn’t catch what he screamed exactly. He might have been speaking in tongues.” He couldn’t resist embarrassing the man at least a little, figuring it was the very least he could do.

Mike looked at Levi, who gave nothing away. The dark haired man began gathering up the water bottles and carried an armful to the bathroom to empty them.

"Here!" Armin said as he passed. "I'll get those! You need to rest."

"Get the rest of them, then," Levi replied curtly, and was surprised that Armin did just that, jogging back over to the bedrolls and crouching to pluck the items from the blankets.

“Mike and I will pack all of this,” Hanji volunteered for them both. “Go ahead to the humvee. Seeing you two without copious amounts of blankets wrapped around you is making me nervous.” They went after Levi then, probably to try and talk him into being a better patient. Erwin silently wished them the best of luck and trudged out to the humvee, nodding to a couple of his men as he passed them.

Humvee one was still parked around the side of the building--an odd thing considering that the others had already been pulled around to the front. “Were there no supplies taken from humvee one?” he asked Ymir as she and Krista passed.

“No, Sir,” Ymir grinned--an expression that always told Erwin immediately that something was going on that he probably wouldn’t approve of. “We left that humvee alone.”

“Commander, I’m so sorry,” Krista gushed. “I tried to tell them it was mean, but--”

“We let Jean and Eren spend the night in the humvee,” Ymir explained to him without shame. In fact, her voice was full of glowing pride. “We told them there were Romeros everywhere so they should stay put. Figured they could use a little time out to think about how fuckin’ stupid they are.”

Erwin sighed. “Does Mikasa know you did this?”

Ymir’s eyes practically glowed. “It was her idea. No one disagreed.”

“I did!” Krista cried indignantly, but Ymir waved her off, hanging back just a little as Erwin approached the humvee and looked into the passenger side window, then moved to the back and looked into that one as well.

Jean and Eren were there alright. They were out cold in the back on full display, a loose tangle of long, naked limbs. Jean’s face was tucked into Eren’s armpit. Huh. Erwin hadn’t realized that Eren was interested in men, though he supposed he should have seen it in the way he and Jean were always after each other, pulling each other’s pigtails. The commander arranged his expression into a perfect pokerface and knocked hard on the window. And then knocked again.

And again.

Jean was the first one awake, his eyes bleary and confused as he opened them. They darted down to Eren before he realized what had awoken him and looked up to find his commanding officer standing just outside, trying to get their attention. Erwin could hear his horrified yelp from outside the thick glass, his face blank even as Jean scuttled backwards right over Eren like a fleeing crab. The other boy woke with a shout of his own and immediately lashed out, catching Jean in the side of the head and taking him down right on top of his own flailing body. There was a lot of muffled shouting--Erwin heard his own title mentioned--and as he stepped back from the window, the distinct sound of a door opening on the other side, the humvee rocking on its wheels as the boys fell out of it.

“Commander!” Jean cried, still doing up his pants as he scampered around the back bumper, barefoot and shirtless.

“Good morning.”

“I--” Jean looked back over at the corner of the humvee where Eren was presumably still dressing himself. “We had to sleep in the humvee. There were Romeros.”

A handful of feet away, Ymir was howling, actually having to lean forward over her knees to hold herself up. Krista’s hand was over her mouth, so it was unclear what expression she was making, but her eyes were suspiciously crinkled at the corners. She reached out to grab Ymir as she staggered sideways, her mouth forced into a thin line that kept trying to twitch upwards.

“Don’t forget your boots,” Erwin said as he turned to go, eliciting another sharp bark of laughter from Ymir.

“Shut the fuck up!” Jean snapped at the girl. “It isn’t funny!”

“And leave the doors open,” Erwin had to add. The way he said it, he sounded perfectly serious. His men didn’t quite know him well enough to see that he wasn’t angry. “Mike will smell the sex.”

The boy turned so red that Erwin thought he might pass out. Ymir was actually sobbing, her arm around Krista, who was shaking with silent, contagious laughter and looking like she wanted to apologize for it.

When Erwin returned to the visitor center, wanting to empty his bladder before they left, Levi was already making use of the readily available restroom while he and Armin were in it draining the bottles. As Erwin entered, the shorter man turned to look at him out of the corner of his eye. “Now here’s a question. Why did the kids go after water in the river when there was water right here?”

Armin had evidently finished and was already exiting the bathroom with the empty containers, passing the commander quickly and slipping out, too far out the door to try answering Levi’s question.

“Before communications went down, there were widespread reports advising people to boil their tap water before drinking it,” Erwin said, briskly flicking his fly down. He was obviously one of those awkward individuals that didn’t mind conversing with people right in the middle of doing their business. “We have no reason to believe that the water in this area is unsafe to drink, but a number of treatment plants were either physically damaged or contaminated by infected bodies. In addition, the tap water that remains has been sitting in the pipes for over a month now. So I’ve had the company collect bottled water where they can and water from large, free-flowing sources when they can’t. We’ve avoided the taps so far.”

Levi nodded as he finished up with the urinal. He had a feeling that he would be irritable when he wasn’t asleep because he didn’t take a dump, but between the vomiting and not having eaten in more than twenty-four hours he wasn’t convinced he could. Either way, the day was starting off rough. “Well, now would be the time to tell them to get more water now that the coast is clear.”

“We’ll stop on our way out to collect some,” Erwin said as he put his own pants to rights. “All of us together.” He joined Levi at the sink to wash his hands.

“There’s no soap in the dispenser.” Levi’s tone was likely the grouchiest it had been since they’d met as he diligently scrubbed the dirt from the tunnel out from under his nails with nothing but undrinkable water, running hot enough to turn his hands red. “I’ve already tried.”

“I see.”

He made do with a thorough rinse, checking the paper towel dispenser and, upon finding that empty as well, simply shook his hands twice over the trashcan. “We’re about ready to move out.”

“Yippee,” Levi said, obviously unenthused, but the sarcasm was as lacking in heat as his extremities. “Road trip.”

The blonde dabbed his hands dry on the outsides of his thighs, ignoring the look it earned him from Levi’s direction. It was the end of the world. No one gave a shit.

 


	10. Marco ...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... polo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS READ THIS PLEASE! Due to time restrictions, we are extending our hard deadline to every other Sunday. You will likely see chapters posted more frequently than that. The "deadline" only exists because we want to ensure that we don't lose track of our update frequency. This method of updating will also allow us to post chapters as we finish them rather than waiting for Sundays. Thanks for reading!
> 
> More thanks to our betas, Mandy, Liz and Kit. You can find links to their blogs [over here.](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com/about)

Levi wasn’t sure what time it was when he finally cracked his eyes open, but he could still feel the humvee moving under him. The number of blankets on his body had mysteriously increased since he’d fallen asleep, as had the number of socks on his feet. The heat was on so high that he could hear it whistling out of the vents, pumping the cab full of dry, blistering air. Sunlight filtered through the windows in dusty beams, betraying an earlier hour than it had been when he’d last been conscious.

Nanaba was back in their old seat, crammed once more into humvee one after two had been KIA. The spunky blonde leaned heavily into the door with sweat-damp hair plastered to their forehead, barely responsive in their misery. They’d stripped down to their undershirt, perspiration gleaming along their prominent collarbones. Erwin was almost comical by comparison, bundled up in the front seat where he bulged with the added bulk of a heavy winter coat and a blanket of his own. From the side, with his beanie poking up at the crown of his skull, he vaguely resembled an enormous owl.

“You’d be more comfortable back here, you know,” Hanji coaxed-- or attempted to coax. Erwin clearly wasn’t budging from where he sat.

“I’m comfortable enough where I am, though I appreciate your concern.”

Hanji huffed softly, but they were far from discouraged. “It isn’t concern, it’s practicality. You really should be resting more than you have--and perhaps sharing body heat with Levi. Trade places with me.”

“Spoon the man yourself.” Erwin’s tone indicated that this wasn’t the first time he’d heard any of this. “I’ve cuddled Levi enough to last me a lifetime.” Levi scowled at that. He didn't speak up to let the others know he was awake, but he didn’t have to. Erwin must have been cultivating a sixth sense where Levi was concerned if the way he happened to look up and catch the other man’s eye in the rearview mirror was any indication. Relief may or may not have softened the commander’s tense features, but the change was so subtle it was impossible to be certain. Erwin didn’t say anything to the others or comment on Levi’s sour expression, just glanced away again when Hanji spoke.

“The point is to warm you up too, obviously,” the doctor was sighing, letting their chin drop onto the shoulder of Mike’s seat.

Erwin only looked down at himself pointedly, holding up hands that were still partially bundled in a pair of socks, though he’d cut holes for his fingers so he wasn’t trying to handle a map with a couple of slippery fabric nubs. He’d felt like a Thanksgiving turkey in an oven. Now he felt like a bad Hollywood depiction of homelessness, though he supposed he was homeless. They were all homeless now.

“How long is this going to last?” Mike panted, fanning himself with a magazine as he drove, but it did nothing for the sweat beading in his hairline. It took Erwin a moment to realize that he was talking about the heat. It still felt pretty good to him, but Nanaba moaned pitifully from the seat behind him.

“How long has it _been?_ ” Levi groaned, shifting on the hard humvee floor and betraying his conscious status. Hanji very nearly jumped through the roof, turning so quickly they tipped backwards and had to catch themselves on their headrest.

“Christ, I thought you were dead back there.” Mike looked at Levi in the rearview mirror. “It’s almost lunch time.”

“You were out all day yesterday and last night,” Hanji was quick to explain. “All kidding aside, I was concerned that you might be slipping into a coma. We tried waking you a few times, but you were sluggish.” They reached over to Levi and touched his cheek with the backs of their fingers. “You feel warmer.”

"Well, I woke up in Hell," Levi replied, pushing off the blankets. "I think we can let homeostasis do the rest."

"I agree," Mike sighed, reaching for the air dial. Erwin tracked the movement with disappointed eyes, but made no move to stop him.

"Don't turn it down much," Hanji warned. "You're both still going to be pretty cold-sensitive for a while. Your extremities may even have such sensitivity permanently, especially in your case, Levi. I wonder why your condition was so much worse than Erwin's was …"

"I drowned before we froze half to death," the man replied. “Erwin pulled my unconscious ass out of the river.” He thought he should mention that Hanji shouldn’t give Erwin such a hard time about the cuddling, especially after Levi had tried to kill him, but decided against it for the time being. Erwin obviously hadn’t mentioned it. If that had been the case, they wouldn’t be treating Levi the same as they always had.

"You drowned?" Hanji gasped. "You lost consciousness? There’s no wonder you're in such a miserable state! Is there anything _else_ I need to know?"

The doctor’s tone suggested that they didn’t expect any additional traumas, but Erwin spoke up immediately from the front seat to add, "He hit his head."

"He hit his …" Hanji threw their hands up in the most exasperated gesture that any of them had ever seen from them. "If I'd known that I wouldn't have let Levi sleep so soon! He really could have gone into a coma! Shame on you, Erwin! You should know better than to keep pertinent medical information to yourself!”

“Think of it this way, doctor,” Mike said with a snort. “It could be worse. They could have been bitten.”

"They probably wouldn't be telling me that until now either. Neither of you has any bites, right?"

"Of course not," Erwin replied smoothly. "I apologize for not telling you about Levi's head injury."

Hanji huffed, but they seemed somewhat appeased.

"Is there any water nearby?" Levi asked, sparing a quick glance around the floorboard.

"There's a few spare canteens in one of the bags back there. We got them in academy when we swiped the energy drinks," Mike told him. "Look on top of the crates. Keep one and take care of your own water from now on. Until then, there should be some bottles in one of the bags back there."

Levi sat up again and slid the top backpack from a pile to begin rifling through it, but Erwin wasn’t quite so accepting of the order.

"Just stay hydrated," he corrected. "Try not to use the bottles as long as the jugs are full, but we’re not going to make you gather your own water. The other humvees have some from Niagara you can use to refill." He shot Mike a subtle look that he hoped the other man would interpret as 'please behave.'

Mike kept his eyes on the road as he offered a half-assed defense. "I was just saying it's his responsibility to stay hydrated …"

"Yeah, I got it, Polyphemus," Levi grumbled.

Hanji snorted, then immediately glanced over at Mike. "Sorry. I'm not taking sides, I swear."

"Sure," Mike sighed. "Ok, I get the giant part. But why a cyclops?"

"With that shaggy-ass hair I only ever see one sad little eye at a time."

"Oh my god."

"I'm sorry Mike," Hanji wheezed through their cackling laughter. "I'm so sorry."

Levi opened one of the water bottles and sipped at it slowly while he was sitting up before he leaned over to Hanji. "Hey, has he not been back here at all to rest?"

"Nope," Hanji confirmed unhappily. "Says he's just as comfortable in the front seat but I don't think he's really resting."

"Is it because I'm back here?"

"What do you mean?" Hanji asked, furrowing their brow in confusion.

Levi shook his head and scoffed before he threw back some more water. “I must be more unbearable than even I thought.”

"Nah, I don't think that's it. I think he's just trying to be commanderly. It seems important to him to be available all the time." Hanji eyed Levi seriously for a moment, though a grin broke slowly over their face. "You are quite the sourpuss though. Come here, Sourpuss, and let me cop a feel of your toes."

Levi grimaced at Hanji, but he stuck his feet out of the blanket. “Good news. I can definitely feel all of them again. And they all hurt like hell.” He glanced up at Erwin then, whose eyes were closed, before he turned back to his heavily socked feet.

Layer by layer, Hanji peeled the socks off his feet like they were removing the skin from an onion. "You look good," Hanji said after a moment, their hands almost burning on his chilly skin. "Still cool, but no lasting damage as far as I can tell in my unprofessional status as a _researcher_ and not an MD."

“Awesome,” Levi replied, pulling his feet back under. “God forbid I lose a pinky toe.”

"I heard somewhere that the pinky toe is vital for balance." Hanji shrugged, casually catching one of the retreating feet and dragging it back out so they could put Levi’s socks back on him. "But without Google I can't confirm the veracity of that."

“Your skill as a doctor is absolutely unfathomable,” Levi joked, elbowing them good-naturedly as he curled back up in his nest of blankets and closed his eyes again.

He didn’t wake until the radio crackled and Mike put on the brakes, slowing the convoy to almost a stop. Mike reached over and shook Erwin gently.

“Erwin,” he said quietly. “Erwin, we’re approaching humvee four. Doors are closed. It seems empty.”

The commander snapped awake instantly, his eyes alert.

"Humvee four?" Hanji asked, but Erwin didn't immediately answer. He was focused on the road ahead.

“Yeah,” Mike said quietly. “We lost a humvee to a horde on the way up here … This isn’t where we lost it though. It was farther east.”

"It’s been moved." Erwin picked up the radio, hope and dread warring violently in his chest as he watched the tinted windows closely. There was too much glare on them to make heads or tails of what might be inside, but somebody had moved it. Even if it hadn’t been one of Erwin’s men behind the wheel, perhaps a civilian had gotten lucky. Erwin could call that a good day. "Humvee four up ahead. Snipers in position. Eren, Armin, and Mikasa be ready to clear the other vehicle. The driver may still be inside. Stay behind the wheel, Jean, and everyone keep your engines running."

Erwin reached for the weapon under his seat and stood to open the hatch, ignoring Ymir’s vaguely delighted response of, “More space! Praise the Lord Jesus, Hare Krishna, Shalom and Amen.” Krista’s culturally sensitive protest was abruptly terminated as Ymir took her finger off the talk button.

As snipers popped one by one out of the roofs of their respective vehicles and trained their guns on the abandoned one, Mike eased humvee one a little closer before it came to a complete stop. His hands tightened on the wheel and he watched with the same anxious, curious eyes as the rest of the company as the three advanced.

Eren led the way along the road, the other two fanned out behind him like a trio of wary, heavily armed geese. All three of them crouched low with machetes in hand and sidearms on their hips, keeping their movements slow and using the traffic around them for cover.

“I can’t decide if I’m hoping it’s empty or not,” Nanaba muttered, leaning forward to see what was happening on the other side of the windshield. They made it in time to see Mikasa cut down a Romero as it lurched from the open back door of a little sedan.

“Eren, watch your sides,” Erwin reminded him. The boy was undoubtedly hoping to find a lost comrade, his eyes locked on the vehicle before them. From behind, Erwin could not see the look on his face but he had no doubt that it would be fierce.

“Do I need to go and join them?” Nanaba asked, and Erwin actually appeared to be giving it some thought. Ultimately, though, he shook his head. The thought was terrible, but he didn’t want one of his officers out there if the humvee was swamped again. Humvee four’s windshield had cracked beneath the weight of all those Romeros bearing down on it, but miraculously, it had not broken. It was possible that Marco, Hannah and Franz had remained inside the vehicle and survived. If they hadn’t decided to make a mad dash into the oncoming horde--if they hadn’t been broken against the inside of the humvee when it rolled off the shoulder of the road--then perhaps.

Or perhaps it was a civilian and perhaps they were unfriendly. He didn’t want Nanaba out there.

All eyes were on Eren, Armin and Mikasa as they made their way to the driver’s side door, where Eren stepped carefully to one side--so far so good--out of the direct line of fire should anyone be inside. He reached up and knocked on the glass with the butt of the machete, his lips moving as he identified himself as U.S. military and called some kind of warning into the humvee. It looked a little odd from Erwin’s perspective when Eren’s head snapped around suddenly, his body abandoning his defensive posture almost immediately and moving to stand directly, dangerously, in front of the window. The commander knew on some level what it had to mean even before the group radioed him.

“Commander!” Armin called, his voice betraying an excitement that was difficult to read. Somebody--either Eren or the occupant of the humvee--threw the driver door open and Eren jumped up onto the running board, his upper half tipping abruptly out of sight like he’d gone in to hug someone. “Commander, Marco is still in here! He’s alive!”

“Well good God damn,” Nanaba said accurately, their voice dead with shock.

Eren very carefully helped the young, freckled man out of the humvee, half supporting him. Even from this distance, Marco looked shaky and wan, his face disbelieving, uncertain, and unmistakably haunted. Before his feet could even hit the ground, a door behind humvee one slammed. Petra called out Jean’s name, but the man could not be stopped. He was already tearing past Erwin’s window and across the short expanse to Marco, who was barely prepared for the bonecrushing embrace that followed their impact.

Jean collided with him so hard that he actually knocked them both back a couple of paces, his arms folding around Marco in an embrace that was definitely going to bruise. The brunette clung immediately to the fabric at the back of Jean’s arms, ostensibly to keep his balance, but he didn’t let go of him once the surprise had worn off, his eyes wide and shocked like he still hadn’t processed any of what was happening. Jean’s voice was a low murmur as he waved the others off, reaching up to cup the man’s face in his palm and pull their foreheads close. They weren’t quite touching, but almost.

"Who is that?" Hanji demanded, leaning over Nanaba to press their nose to the window. "I’m assuming we know him since Jean is kissing his cheek. Did he get left? What's going on right now?" But no one answered the doctor. Erwin had ducked back down into the vehicle when he saw what was happening outside, sliding out into the chilly October air and closing the door on Hanji's protests without addressing them, his eyes set only on Marco.

"Bodt," he called, waving him off when the young man snapped into a salute, his arm still around Jean like he actually needed the help to stay on his feet. "It's a relief to find you alive." A gross understatement in every way possible. "Are the others with you?"

"No one else is in the humvee, sir," Armin reported swiftly, hopping back down onto the pavement from the back where he had been looking around.

“It’s … ah … it’s been a rough week, Sir,” Marco said. “Franz and Hannah are gone. And … you all saw what happened to Thomas.” Yes, Erwin had seen. He remembered the humvee rolling sideways down the steep incline, Thomas thrown out and crushed beneath the vehicle where he'd been posted on the roof with a rifle. The humvee had settled on its tires, but it was an idle coincidence rather than a stroke of luck, or so it had seemed at the time. Down the incline, disabled, status of the other occupants unknown, horde closing over the roof and time running out for the doctor, Erwin had made a decision.

The more Marco spoke, the more clear it was that he was still very upset, the loss still raw like his throat, the words clawing him on the way out. “It’s good to see that the rest of you are alive and well,” he added, and that much was clear on his face as he looked at Eren, Armin, and Mikasa, and the faces peeking at him from lowered humvee windows. “Did you find the doctors?”

“We found one of them,” Armin replied with a smile. "Hanji Zoë is safe in humvee one with the commander and a hitchhiker they developed a fondness for, I think."

“Not presently!” Hanji chirped, appearing beside Erwin without warning and holding out a hand for Marco to shake. “This day just keeps improving, don’t you think?”

“Uh …”

"Are you out of gas?" Erwin asked Marco, saving him from having to come up with an acceptable response.

"I am, Sir. I used up most of it trying to backtrack to a section of road that I could drive the humvee up."

Erwin gave him an odd look, glancing over at the humvee, which seemed intact except for the one crack across the windshield. “Was the siphon thrown from the vehicle?”

There was something distinctly chilling about the quality of Marco’s silence, the simple, hesitant shake of his head when he did finally manage a response. Behind them, out of Erwin’s direct line of sight, Jean had his hand on the small of the brunette’s back, rubbing slow circles through his uniform shirt as Erwin waited for an explanation. The commander was actually just about to write the mystery off as something that wasn’t terribly important when Marco said something that left Erwin colder than the chilly October wind.

“I got out once to try siphoning thinking they were gone, but they hadn’t left. They hid, Sir.”

“Hid?” Hanji barked, riding right over Erwin’s response without noticing that there had been one to interrupt, so focused were they on Marco’s words. “Romeros tend to lose interest once they no longer have anything in front of them they find stimulating. Likely they forgot you were in there.”

But Marco was shaking his head before the doctor even finished. “They waited under the humvee … I heard them moving around under there until a couple of days ago.”

“What?” Armin and Eren asked in unison before they exchanged a quick glance.

“So they waited for you for several days?” Armin continued. “How often did you …” he tapered off, unsure of how to finish the question.

“I got out the one time,” Marco answered him. “After that, I tried to move as little as possible.”

That much was obvious by the waste fluids that had accumulated on the asphalt just outside one of the back windows where Marco had obviously been emptying a container. But the commander’s heart was beating heavily in his chest, his mind racing over the implications of Marco’s claim. Likely, he’d misread their behavior, had attributed some kind of intelligence to a creature that had none. That was a weighty conclusion to jump to, Erwin thought, and for the moment there were more immediate concerns.

"When did the Romeros leave?" he asked Marco, glancing over the man’s shoulder at the trees along the road as though he expected to see them there.

"Actually, I don't think it was very long before you got here."

"Gas up this vehicle," Erwin told the others, turning on his heel to get the necessary equipment from the back of humvee one. "Siphon a little from each of our tanks only. Do not approach any other vehicle and work as quickly as you can."

Armin and Mikasa left immediately to do as they were told, though Eren hesitated for the briefest second, his eyes on Jean and Marco. The man was clearly torn, shifting his weight as though he wanted to go with them, hesitating, raking a hand through his dark hair. But ultimately his fingers curled into a fist and he gave himself a sharp, merciless tug as he turned to follow briskly after his oldest friends.

Erwin hadn't processed any of this, though his eyes were on them, scanning the small group of people that were still outside of the humvees with a thoughtful crease between his brows. He was working out a new seating arrangement in his head, assessing the forces he had and trying to determine how best to even out strengths and weaknesses across humvees. Beside him, Hanji was scribbling into a small notebook.

"I would like to question Marco as soon as possible," the doctor said seriously without ever breaking their stride. "He's already had a lot of time for his memories of the Romeros to start degrading."

Erwin nodded. "I understand, but we will either have to set you up over the radio or wait until we stop. This unknown factor involving the Romero makes the area highly unsafe."

"I would prefer the radio option. I need that information before he tells the story too many times. Memories become a little more unreliable with each retelling.”

"He didn't look ready to discuss it," the commander said, but it wasn't a protest, just an observation. "I doubt he will tell it too many times before you get to him."

Hanji’s eyes were intense behind their spectacles when they looked up at the blonde. “Erwin, you’ve been out here travelling since the beginning. Have you seen anything that could indicate the degree of intelligence that Marco is describing?”

A sharp crackle of static broke into the thoughts that were trying to form, all the possible answers he could give. "Sir,” Sasha asked almost apologetically, “permission to come and greet Marco?"

"Not here," Erwin answered, turning his shoulder away from Hanji to look down the row of humvees and the soldiers milling about them. There were too many out already--more than they needed to fill a gas tank. “All nonessential personnel get back into the humvees and be ready to move out. Snipers hold."

“Roger that,” Nanaba drawled, close enough that they didn’t need to use the coms. “Are we expecting more trouble than normal?”

“Possibly. Marco told me that the Romeros left just before we arrived.”

Nanaba shrugged without taking their eye off the magnified scope. The barrel of their weapon swung slowly around as they studied the trees bordering the highway. “That’s a weird coincidence, but I don’t see how it’s relevant.”

Erwin studied the captain’s face, torn. He was silent long enough that it was Hanji who looked up and belatedly answered, their face aghast. “Of course it’s relevant! Marco has described some behaviors that none of us have ever seen before, that could potentially have some very serious implications! Intelligence in Romeros, can you imagine?”

A thin eyebrow appeared over the lens of Nanaba’s scope. “Do you believe that, Commander?”

Erwin simply shook his head. “It warrants more investigation at the very least.”

“Hell yes it warrants more investigation!” Hanji cried. “To do otherwise would be unforgivably irresponsible of me as a scientist.” And of Erwin as a soldier.

The blonde supervised the refueling for a good while before realizing that he'd begun to shiver, watching the company reassimilate a comrade that they had mourned. In his concern over leaving as soon as possible, over the Romeros, he didn’t feel the full force of that reality until they had almost finished up.

Hanji resurfaced long enough from the vigorous notes they'd been taking to nudge Erwin gently, gesturing with their chin back towards humvee one. "You going to undo all my brilliant doctoring?"

Erwin supposed he wasn't. He turned and made the prudent choice, climbing back up into the vehicle and redistributing the occupants of the humvees by radio rather than in person, though his mind was only partly focused on the task. He wouldn’t know until they questioned Marco about what he had seen, but it was difficult all the same to subdue the dread that had followed quickly on the heels of his shock.

In the humvee, Levi was watching from his pile of blankets as Jean held onto Marco and rubbed soothing hands along the brunette’s arms, his lips moving occasionally as he spoke to the jumpy man. Levi hadn’t seen something so lucky and miraculous since this whole shitstorm began and it was surprisingly uplifting, but something about it made him wistful, and maybe a little bitter.

And he could see that he wasn't the only one. Eren was the first of the group to head back to the humvees, a siphon coiled loosely in his hands, and Levi could see him trying to fight the sour look on his face.

"What is it, Shorty?” Hanji asked, climbing into the humvee looking windblown and exuberant, their pen tucked behind an ear. “You have a look."

"Huh?" Levi said, turning to the doctor. His expression was still a bit dazed but he finally shook it off and shrugged. "I'm a bit envious, that’s all. That's an ungodly amount of luck these days."

"It is," Hanji agreed. They looked over at Marco and Jean like they were really noticing them for the first time, their keen eyes following Jean’s hand up to Marco’s head, where he ruffled the untidy hair. "But it's a relief to see that things like this are still possible--that it isn’t entirely hopeless. Maybe things will work out that favorably for you too."

"They won't," Levi replied, no sadness in his voice and the wistfulness gone. There was only matter-of-fact bluntness. "Thanks, though."

“Sure.” Hanji looked away from him, leaning back and bracing the bottom of their foot against the back of Erwin’s seat. They pulled their little notebook out and flipped a page to read back over their notes, though after a moment they added. "I won’t get a reunion like that either.” It was just as matter-of-fact as Levi’s admission had been, but there was a distinctly grim set to their mouth as they said it.

Levi was still and quiet for a minute before he shrugged out of the blankets again. He reached over and patted Hanji’s shoulder lightly. "At least neither of us are alone anymore."

It took so little to soften the scientist. The tension went out of them almost immediately, their features relaxing into a genuine smile. “You’re right,” they agreed, reaching over to smack a friendly palm into Levi’s shoulder blade. “Moblit can’t be replaced by anyone, but I think in time I’ll find people who matter to me.” They gestured vaguely around the humvee, pressing their foot into the back of Erwin’s seat until he looked up from the radio to see what they wanted, lifting his finger from the talk button. “Who knows. Maybe I already have.”

Erwin’s eyebrows crinkled together in the rearview mirror. “Pardon?”


	11. Jack Fell Down and Broke His Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good things come in threes and leave in tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the mega late update this time around! We've added ✧･ﾟ:* _four new chapters_ *:･ﾟ✧ with ☆*~ﾟ _all new events_ ~*☆ and the details and the extra writing held us up!
> 
> As always a HUGE thanks to our betas, who were there for us at ungodly hours this time around. Liz, Kit, and Mandy can be found on the [about page](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com/about) of the blog!

Erwin was not asleep when the call came through, his eyes closed and his mind humming softly, almost dozing but never quite getting there. He was listening to the steady road noise and their reliable engine, to Hanji and Levi murmuring under their breaths over some kind of card game they’d found at a gas station several stops back. His thoughts drifted and splintered, but Erwin wasn’t capable of sleeping any longer than he already had. He’d been depriving himself for so long that his body had forgotten how to stop, adjusting to a consistent three or four hours a night or less. Exhaustion was heavy and constant in his bones, but his eyes did not burn for sleep.

Mikasa was on watch somewhere behind them, her keen eyes scanning the road ahead for any sign of congestion, either by cars or by Romeros. It was the dark headed girl who alerted them first, her calm voice breaking with static. “Commander,” she said, “there are people ahead--one adult male just climbed out of a black crossover on the right hand side. I think I see a child in the passenger seat.”

The news grabbed everyone’s attention, but less in an excited way and more in a wary one. Mike tapped the brake lightly, slowing the entire convoy with a domino-like effect, though he didn’t stop. Not yet. He turned to glance at Erwin, a question hanging in the air. The last several stops for civilians had gone horribly awry in some way or another, with Levi being the reluctant outlier.

“Scared, Mike?” the hitchhiker in question piped up, peering across Hanji through the window and observing the man who was now waving frantically at them. Levi’s voice sounded skeptical, and maybe a bit challenging.

“Just exercising caution.”

“It can’t be helped,” Erwin said, lifting the radio to deliver his orders. “We have to be sure. Mikasa, Nanaba, Sasha, be ready to return fire, but hold unless I signal.” There was every possibility in the world they were about to find themselves in an ambush situation. Children were irresistible to people who wouldn’t have otherwise stopped. They automatically signalled vulnerability and trustworthiness, evoking an instinctive protectiveness in those who had forgotten they could feel anything but mistrust towards others. And people knew that.

The commander cracked his window open as they slowly drew level with the stalled vehicle. The engine looked cold, but Romeros had not taken any interest in them yet. It was an alright place for an ambush, but as Erwin’s eyes scanned their surroundings he saw better--places where the other vehicles were arranged more favorably, where it would be easier to hem them in. The man raised his hands upon seeing all the guns pointed at him.

“Stay in the car, Jill,” he said to the woman peering out at them from the back seat. She drew away from the window, but only a little, a curly headed toddler pressed to her chest. The child in the front had crawled over the center console and was looking out at them with wonder written all over his gritty face, like the convoy had been something he’d prayed about for so long it had become fictional.

“We’re United States Special Forces,” Erwin told the man immediately. “I’m Commander Erwin Smith. You look like you could use a jump.”

The man sagged in relief--actually sank back into the side of the car, his shoulders dropping, though he kept his hands raised. “My name is Kareem,” he said. “It’s the gas, actually. We don’t have a siphon so we’ve been moving from car to car as we run out, but we can’t find anything close that has keys. We were just trying to decide if we wanted to risk looking farther.”

That could be true. Even in a situation so dire that people were being evacuated in droves, there seemed to be some bizarre human hope that maybe someday they would get to return, step back into their vehicles and recover their lives. The company had found countless locked cars as they got out to tow, breaking windows for cases of water or medications. “If you put your vehicle in neutral we can tow you to the next station,” Erwin offered. “We have hand pumps and we’re headed for a naval convoy off the coast. Perhaps you could follow us there.”

Kareem’s face lit up with with that knowledge. “A naval convoy? The one that the evacuations were headed to?” he asked before he threw a look back towards his companions. Jill looked cautiously hopeful, her deep-set eyes shifting between the children, Kareem, and Erwin.

“That’s the same convoy, yes,” Erwin agreed. “We don’t mind taking you there, but until we’re out of this immediate area I would ask that you temporarily surrender your firearms. We have seen more than one ambush attempt.” There was a clear warning there as well--one that he didn’t think Kareem failed to appreciate. The man seemed honest, came off as sincere, but Erwin had not survived this long by trusting solely in his gut.

“Of course,” Kareem stuttered, turning to return to the car and nervous enough to forget the guns trained on him. He pulled a small bag from the back, something that looked like it had carried a laptop in better days, now beaten and filthy and misshapen. Kareem stepped forward, careful and still assuming an open stance as he passed the bag to Erwin. “There’s some supplies in there as well, but not much.”

"We'll return those to you once we've separated the weapons." Erwin set the bag down in the floorboard by his boots and radioed Ymir, telling her group to join them out on the pavement. He allowed everyone a brief moment to get themselves together before he opened the door and stepped down. "If you could stay inside the vehicle for a moment, ma'am, I would appreciate it. Jill was it?" The woman nodded solemnly, but Erwin hadn't exactly been asking. He'd remembered her name just fine. "I'm going to search Kareem first, and then I would like you to step out as well. I'll let you know when."

The search went by much more quickly and smoothly than Levi’s had and yielded no surprising results. Kareem had nothing else on him and Jill alerted Ymir to the presence of a nail file in her pocket, which they didn’t even bother to remove from her person. The whole situation seemed to relax and deflate at last until the small child, lower lip pouted out and curls matted with grease and dirt, slid out of the car onto the asphalt.

“I haven’t been searched yet!” he declared with an excitable indignation. Levi turned and looked at him out of the window, raising an eyebrow at the child, who could not have been older than seven. Ymir simply scoffed, a reaction that knocked the air out of the boy’s puffed chest.

Erwin, though, scowled. "You're right," he told the boy seriously. "You're the most threatening of all, so I'm glad you pointed out my oversight." He crouched in front of the boy, who held his arms straight out like he'd seen his parents do and squirmed excitedly as Erwin patted him down, grinning from ear to ear like being found suspicious by the military was some kind of special honor. In the meantime, Ymir and Krista conducted a cursory search of the vehicle while Connie stuck close to the parents to keep an eye on them. The toddler was awake now and seemed a little cranky, making wobbly pre-cry noises while Jill bounced him soothingly on a hip, murmuring something under her breath that sounded slightly melodic.

"What's your name?" Erwin was asking the older boy where they stood a little apart from his watchful parents.

"I'm John Kareem after my grandfathers!"

"Alright, John Kareem after your grandfathers," Erwin said, tugging up his pant legs to check his boots. "Do you remember mine?"

"You're Mr. Commander Erwin Smith!" John Kareem spouted dutifully, eliciting a short laugh from the blonde.

"You can call me Erwin," he said, leaning in a little like he was sharing a secret. "Because I can see you're a very important fellow."

"Dang, kid," Connie whistled. "None of us get to call him Erwin. Just the officers."

"I guess that makes me pretty important too," Levi snorted from where he was leaning out of the window.

"And who are you?" John Kareem asked skeptically.

"Levi, Baron of Sealand," he replied casually. Well, it wasn't a lie. He had received a certificate of his official title and partial ownership of the little oilrig for a birthday one year as a joke.

"You don't look like a baron," John Kareem said, squinting at the hitchhiker and noting Mike's snort.

"And you don't look like an important person either. I think after a bath we'll all change our minds, don't you?"

John Kareem's skepticism melted away and he grinned and nodded, obviously quite delighted to be in the presence of military royalty.

"Oh, Erwin look!" Levi said suddenly, pointing to John Kareem's pants. "There's something in his pocket!"

John Kareem's eyes widened and he stammered, looking down at his pocket. "It's just a Transformer!" he stuttered, pulling it out to display the little silver toy.

"That's Megatron, right?" Levi asked.

"Of course not," Mike snorted again. "Look at the size and facial structure. It's obviously Starscream."

The boy's eyes went wide with such absolute wonder that Erwin had no choice but to grin some himself. The boy's little head whipped around to look his parents, his dark eyes pleading. "Can I ride in the humvee with them?" He begged, glancing at Erwin as he stood up straight to address them also.

"It wouldn't be a problem," the commander said, noting their edgy expressions and understanding their reasons completely. They'd just met Erwin and his unit and they had no idea what kind of people they were, uniforms or not, promises or not. "I'll take care of him."

Jill and Kareem exchanged glances with one another, unable to actually discuss it for John Kareem's begging. However Jill, who looked utterly worn and was now comforting a crying child, turned to Erwin.

"That'll be fine, as long as he promises to behave."

"I'll behave!" John Kareem declared excitedly.

"If he doesn't, we'll just zip tie him. It won't be a problem." Erwin winked at John Kareem, who squealed happily as Erwin opened the door and lifted him effortlessly into the passenger seat.

"Can we please?" He asked, hopping out of the seat and onto the floorboard between the passenger and driver seats as Erwin slid in after him. He was looking around like he'd just stepped into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

"You could zip tie the Baron if you like," Erwin offered gallantly. "We have to zip tie him all the time. He's a real handful."

"You can do that to a baron?"

" _Can_ isn't the issue. They did it and they'll do it again," Levi snorted, scooting away as the child grew nearer and blocked his view from Mike, who pulled one of many zip ties from a pocket and passed it to the child.

"Sure you can zip tie barons," Erwin encouraged him. "You have to be firm with them or they'll get into all sorts of trouble. Especially our baron. Now, watch his hands. If he gives them to you like this he's going to try and break free." Erwin held out his hands to demonstrate what he meant.

Levi's lips tugged up in something of a smile when the child turned to him, zip tie in hand. He presented his hands the opposite that Erwin had shown him - wrists up and fists clenched, though they were still side to side. John Kareem looked down at them for a long, pensive moment before he looked up at Erwin questioningly.

Erwin shook his head, also smiling faintly. "See, here is a perfect example of why you need to watch the Baron. The insides of his wrists should be pressed together."

John Kareem nodded and looked back at Levi sternly, but before he could issue the command, Levi turned his wrist the correct way. He waited patiently while John Kareem fumbled with the little strip of plastic.

"Don't get it too tight," Erwin said, watching John Kareem bind Levi's wrists. "If you tighten them too much it will be easy for him to break the clasp."

Despite the warning, Levi grunted when the tie began digging into his wrists.

"Uh oh," the boy murmured. "Is that too tight?"

"I won't break out," Levi replied.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Hanji promised, swinging up into the humvee with a wink. "They're about ready to attach the tow line. Do you need to pee, Levi? I saved you a spot." But they took one look at John Kareem’s handiwork and their eyebrows appeared over the rims of their glasses. “Oh. Well, I guess I could unzip your pants for you.”

"We're going to avoid talking about water for a bit," came Levi's tight-lipped reply.

"Like waaaaterfaaaaalls?" John Kareem taunted. "And swimming pooooools?"

The corner of Levi's mouth turned down and although he didn't say anything, his face read "murder."

“Go with waterfalls,” Hanji advised him ruthlessly.

Levi turned his wrathful stare on the doctor. "I will literally pee on you."

As Mike pulled back towards the front of the van, Levi made a show of testing the ties, which pleased John Kareem, who looked back proudly at Erwin. The commander gestured silently for Levi to turn his wrists before he nodded, smiling faintly.

"Looks like he's secured. Well done, John Kareem."

The boy grinned, clambering back up towards the front. Erwin's hand shot out nimbly as the vehicle edged forward and John Kareem rocked unsteadily on his knees. The boy waited approximately three seconds after Mike got out with the tow cable to climb excitedly into his seat, peering at all of the dials and levers. He was careful not to touch, but he got close enough to make onlookers nervous.

As they waited, Erwin began explaining to John Kareem what each of the various controls were for, feeling his seat move as Hanji leaned over to watch around his shoulder. By the time Mike returned, John Kareem had been allowed to test the windshield wipers, clean Mike's windshield with the fluid and talk to Eren on the radio. He was playing happily with the silent radar screen when the driver door opened and Mike peered at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

"Has he taught you how to drive it yet?" he asked, shooing John Kareem away. When his seat was empty again, he settled into it with a contented sigh. "Look, I'll show you."

"Mike has to be very careful navigating around all these cars," Erwin explained. "It's like an obstacle course. Have you ever done one of those?"

"Yeah!" John Kareem said excitedly. "Like the bouncy house ones!" He watched attentively, eyes on the gear shift as Mike adjusted it and began easing the humvee forward.

"It takes a lot of skill to drive a vehicle this large through spaces so small. Mike is the best driver we have."

"Is that why he's in front?"

"Partly," Erwin said. "He's also my second in command."

"Are you a captain?" John Kareem asked, turning to Mike.

"Assistant Commander," Mike corrected him, removing his hand from the shift and resting them both on the wheel as they began working their way down the road.

"Woah ..."

"And Hanji is a very important scientist with the WHO," Erwin added. "It may be their research that ends all of this."

John Kareem's head turned, and he looked at Hanji with new understanding. "Everyone in here is so important!"

"Yeah, Jack, you're riding with the cool kids." Hanji leaned back in their seat and kicked out of their shoes.

"Well," Levi amended, "the cool kids and a major nerd."

"I wouldn't call you a nerd," Hanji disagreed quickly. “Just a little socially challenged.”

Levi opened his mouth as though to correct them, but closed it again immediately, choosing instead to curl up in his seat, surly and tense. Up front, the boy chattered happily with Erwin, speaking at nine hundred miles an hour. It didn't seem to bother the commander, who answered each of his questions without missing a beat, his voice low and amused.

"Woah, look out," Hanji murmured, crawling over to Levi's side of the humvee and laying on their stomach across the platform so they could say into his ear, "Commander Serious Business is smiling."

"It's unnerving. I can feel it from over here." Despite the comment, he glanced up curiously to the rearview mirror, barely seeing the squint of Erwin's eyes, the way they crinkled pleasantly to accompany the amusement in his voice. In all honestly, there was no way it could be unattractive to anyone, and Levi even caught himself staring. John Kareem, too, stared as he spoke, his eyes never moving from the man and his lips never touching for longer than a half second as he asked questions and showed off his Transformer.

"I know," Hanji agreed. "I'm beginning to worry about extraterrestrial influence." The doctor propped their chin on their palm and watched the scene unfolding in the front seat with something akin to wonder. "I don't understand kids at all. Never have."

"I don't like them," Levi replied, his nose slightly wrinkled as he cast an eye at John Kareem, but there was no malice there. He looked down at the ties on his wrist again, wondering if he could get away with snapping them, but when the boy glanced at him as though reading the treacherous thought, Levi thought better of it.

"They can't be trusted," Hanji said somberly, and they might have meant anything by that. They could have wanted to say that children could not be trusted with delicate things, like specimens, or dangerous things like Bunsen burners. Maybe they meant secrets or with keeping quiet when their lives depended upon it. There was no telling. Either way, Levi respected the comment and nodded in agreement.

John Kareem kept the conversation going all by himself, saying he still could write cursive despite not having school since it got out in May and that he was top of his class in multiplication because his mother taught him and it made his teacher mad sometimes. He was still talking about how he had learned the order of the planets ("and Pluto too!") when Mike finally pulled off at a Chevron with broken windows and twice as many cars as he would have liked. They would actually have to tow some of them out of the way before they could even get their hand pump into the tanks.

"If you want to stick with us until the next pit stop, I'll show you how to keep lookout," Erwin promised, "but you have to ask your parents."

John Kareem's grin was likely much larger than his lips were made to accommodate, but it didn't seem to phase him, even when he yelled out of the window for his mom. Levi reached up immediately and yanked him roughly down again.

"Shut the f- . . . Quiet down. Something besides your mom might hear you."

"I'm not afraid!" the boy crowed proudly. "I bet Mr. Commander kills them all the time."

"That is true for all of us," Erwin agreed, reaching over to tap his finger lightly against the side of John Kareem's head, "but we survive with our heads first, and then our weapons. Do you know why that is?"

John Kareem shook his head rapidly, but he looked eager to find out.

"We don't have enough bullets to make it with brute force alone," Erwin grinned, ruffling John Kareem's curly hair as he cracked the door open and slid out to begin organizing their perimeter.

"Aw, really?" John Kareem asked, following him out and clinging to him closely. "Why not?"

"No one is making them anymore."

Armin and Mikasa were the first ones out of their vehicle, so Erwin gestured for them to begin clearing the station. "Take Connie and Sasha and secure the exterior." He wanted the interior secured as well so they could go in and try to replace some of the provisions that they'd lost to the river, but that could wait until the perimeter was in place. As he ducked around the door Hanji had just thrown open, he told John Kareem, "We don't have the resources yet to melt metal into molds, but someone was working on that when we left the Sina." He bent down and knocked on Jill's window.

"We weren't sure if we should get out yet," she said through the crack in the door. "Is it alright?"

"It would be fine. Just stick close to your vehicle until the perimeter is in place." Erwin moved away again to humvee one so he could touch base with the drivers, who had fanned their humvees around the station in a wide circle and were just beginning to appear from the open roofs, tucking rifles into their shoulders.

"Can we get candy?" John Kareem asked happily, peering up at Erwin from the ground.

"If you can find some that isn't stale," Erwin laughed, reaching up for the mounted radio and flipping it into the talk position. He vaguely heard Hanji say something about how chocolate shouldn't be stale yet before his attention turned to Ymir's report on the small handful of Romeros she'd hit on her way around the side of the building.

"They're pretty fucked up, but they still need finishing," she said. Mikasa's team would find those in their sweep, but he hit the talk button again anyway.

"Did you copy that, Ackerman? There are Romeros down on the right side of the building that need a double tap."

"Shit, Commander, I didn't know you watched comedy," Hanji spoke up, raising their voice just a little to be heard over the radio.

"Copy that, Tallahassee," Connie replied for Mikasa, earning a snicker from Sasha and a harsh look from Mikasa. "We're taking care of them now."

"Can we check out the inside as soon as possible?" Levi grumbled, getting out of the Humvee and tightening the zip tie. "I need to piss like a racehorse and I’m still not about relieving myself anywhere I see fit."

“You’ll get over that!” Hanji chirped, turning at the waist to stretch out their back.

Erwin looked back at him, though, his eyes bright with humor. "You've been such a good sport," he said, favoring Levi with one of those rare smiles. "I can cut that if you'd like."

Levi hesitated, grinding his teeth, his irritation clear on his face. “If you don’t mind,” he finally replied, holding out his wrists. He was still cold and shivering and stiff, and he worried that he may not be able to pop the tie the first time, and he knew that if he failed it would be painful. So Erwin shifted in his seat, wiggling his utility knife from the sheath on his belt and reaching out to steady Levi's wrists so he could work the point of the blade carefully between the zip tie and his flesh. The shorter man's hands were a little cool to the touch, but for all Erwin knew he might have always had chilly fingers.

"Thank you for humoring John Kareem," the commander said as he worked. "It was kind of you."

“There aren’t a lot of things that I’m passionate about, but humoring children is one of them. I don't like them, but validation is important at that age.” When the tie fell free, Levi rubbed his sore wrists and wiggled his numb fingers as blood pumped freely to them again. “But I’m not going to let him do that again.”

"I'll assure him, then, that our Baron has been very well behaved and no longer requires zip tying." He wasn't quite smiling then, but looked very close to it, his eyes trying to crinkle at the corners. His good humor seemed to be contagious, as Hanji had hopped up onto the hood and was chattering happily with Mike as they waited for humvee two to announce that the exterior was clear so they could begin detaching the tow line.

Levi’s eyes darted to Hanji, who was keeping Mike well preoccupied, before he turned his eyes back to Erwin and stared at him, intense and meaningful. “Thank you,” he said, ostensibly about the zip tie situation, but hoping that Erwin realized that it was for a good deal more than that. He hadn’t had the chance yet to thank him for not telling the others what he had tried to do in Niagara, and for keeping him around.

The commander paused, catching the weight in Levi's words though he wasn't entirely certain what he was being thanked for. He nodded, moving to return the knife to its proper place, though he didn't immediately look away from Levi's face. "I'll see how they're doing," was what he did say. "I wouldn't want you to have to relieve yourself against a parked car like some kind of caveman." The good humor had returned, edging back into his tone as though the discovery of John Kareem and his little family had done something for his spirits on a deeper level than any of them could have reached. It seemed to be catching in Levi, too, who hopped out after him with a bit more enthusiasm.

It didn’t initially startle him when the gas station door opened from the inside. He thought maybe the others had come through the back and cleared out the building already. The body coming through it was even coordinated, so much so that Levi didn’t take note of how completely dead it was until he realized that he didn’t recognize its face, or the two emerging behind it.

“Erwin!” he snapped as he turned to climb back into the humvee in search of a weapon, cursing himself for having gone so long without one in the first place.

Hanji had just seen it as well and was grabbing Mike's arm when Levi called out, their mouth partly open with the start of a warning. Instead, when the commander's eyes snapped to Levi and followed his gaze to the front of the station, Hanji jumped down from the roof and skirted around the humvee.

"I'll radio them, Erwin!" the doctor cried, flinging Mike's door open and swinging the entirety of their lithe frame into the humvee at once by using the steering wheel to haul themselves up. They slammed the door shut behind them as they'd been taught, isolating themselves from the outside. Erwin had a moment to catch sight of their hand going for the radio before he turned to pull his sidearm.

There was no time to attach a silencer. The Romeros moved quickly, scattering just outside the open door despite humvee one standing directly in front of them. Surely the creatures had spotted them, but perhaps in the chaos of their exit ...

"Get into your car," Erwin said to Jill, whose infant started screaming the moment the first shot was fired. He didn't have to tell her twice. As silenced rounds began dropping Romeros from every side, Kareem ushered the woman hastily into the little sedan, his eyes round with horror.

Erwin lowered his weapon and let the others take over from there, their bullets whizzing through the air with more power and less sound than his own could manage, but he left it out of its holster, ready if anything got too close. They'd been fairly close to the door, but Hanji had been quick with their warning and the others had responded in kind, folding Romero after Romero onto the pavement before they made it far.

"Erwin," Hanji called from the sun roof. "Watch them! They're not acting right, are they?" It was true. This batch moved quickly and with almost the same level of coordination as the living, and rather than shambling straight for them, they seemed to be migrating away from the heavy fire, ducking around the corner and trying to get behind the gas pumps.

Levi hadn’t managed to get a gun, but he’d landed a hand on a machete and was watching from where he was perched on the running board of the humvee, watching with less interest and more confusion than Hanji had been.

“What are they doing …?”

Watching them move--really watching them as Hanji said--made Erwin's blood run cold, his stomach falling straight down into his guts as quickly as though it had been yanked. He didn't have much time to confirm it, saw some things that could have just as easily been coincidence as true intelligence, but the way they'd fanned out like that, the way they'd moved …

As the lot stilled, Erwin remained frozen as well, his heart hammering wildly in his chest.

"Erwin. Nanaba is asking for orders."

There was no way, not this close to the border. What had he just seen? His mind spun, calculating, moving at a thousand miles an hour. Distance, time, rate of travel.

" _Erwin!_ "

"Maintain the perimeter. Everyone else advance with caution."

Hanji ducked quickly into the humvee to relay the order.

“Erwin,” Levi said quietly, turning to look at the blonde with clear concern. “What’s your deal? Snap out of it.”

He’d barely gotten the words out of his mouth before a panicked cry sounded from the towed van.

“John!” Jill was crying, looking around frantically. “John Kareem!” Her husband scrambled out as well, clinging to the screaming toddler as his wife searched, her eyes flitting over every seeable space before they landed with horror on the station and the pile of bodies in the front of it.

"Stay--" Erwin started to order her, but she was already gone, dashing for the door and hopping through the unmoving corpses like a child dodging cracks in the sidewalk. Erwin sprinted after, forgetting momentarily that the dead were not dead for certain, that any of them could be down without being out, could grab an ankle, could topple him, could bite down. Jill was a civilian and the station had not been cleared and he was the closest to her, had all but promised her survival. He caught the door before it swung shut behind her, but she was just beyond his grasp.

She didn’t have to go far. The candy was right beside the register, and had she gone a few more steps, Jill might have found her already ruined tennis shoe sinking into what was left of her eldest son. She stared down at him, his limbs, bloody and missing chunks, bent at unnatural angles, his throat torn out and his jaw slack.

“Oh …” Jill gasped breathily. She took a step forward, knelt, slow and shaky, resting back on her ankles as she reached out. Her unsteady hands paused just above him, less in fear and more as though she were afraid that touching him might hurt him, but she finally gathered him up into her arms as Kareem and Levi barrelled in.

Erwin stalled just inside the doorway, his face going blank like a shutter had just fallen behind it. He advanced into the room, giving Jill and John Kareem a wide berth as he swept around the counter and looked behind it, gesturing sharply to Levi as he entered. The other man had not been taught how to clear a room, but the situation had already gone desperately sideways. As he moved up the row of shelves, he could only hope that common sense would be enough to guide Levi's actions.

Levi caught the gesture, but found his eyes wandering back to John Kareem as his father joined Jill on the floor, shielding the smaller child’s eyes and clutching him close. He finally tore his eyes away, face as empty as Erwin’s, and lifted the machete as he passed the couple on the floor and beginning to inspect each aisle. Ultimately he found nothing but a couple of old, rotting bodies.

Jill was whispering something down at the corpse in her arms, brushing the hair out of his face and rocking gently back and forth, but unlike her husband she did not cry. As Levi made his way up, he found that the disturbing, heartbreaking scene awakened something in him and he stared with a furrowed brow, uncomprehending, unfamiliar with this expression of grief, this deep mourning experienced by a family for a child. It wasn’t until he felt the burning and he reached up to touch his face that he realized that there were a few tears, and he wondered if maybe it was because unlike Jill and Kareem, he hadn’t been afforded the luxury of time or energy to mourn.

He wiped his face on his sleeve and returned to Erwin, silently awaiting something, anything.

The commander was part-way down the hallway that led to the bathrooms and a storeroom, the employee exit. Rather than clearing the storeroom, he simply reached in and pulled the door shut, checking to see that the bathroom doors swung inwards. Any Romeros inside wouldn't be able to push the doors open with their bodies. When he turned to look at Levi, his blue eyes were dull and haunted, but they moved briefly over the other man's face, comprehending what he saw. He squeezed Levi's shoulder as he passed him to head back into the main area.

By now, Mike, Sasha, Eren, and Armin had made their way in, guns loaded and ready, but none of them were prepared for what they saw, or what they heard when Erwin and Levi emerged from the back.

"You were supposed to watch him," Jill murmured, and although she didn't look up from her son, it was clear who she was speaking to.

"Jill," Kareem said softly, reaching out to grip her shoulder.

"You said he would be safe," she continued, unrelenting, now looking up to pierce Erwin with her glare.

"I know," Erwin said, stepping forward into conversation range, looking almost like he intended to kneel. But Jill wasn't having it. Her body bent, leaning over John Kareem as though she meant to shield him from Erwin himself.

"Stay the fuck away from us," she hissed softly, such vitriol almost startling as it poured from her kind mouth, her worried mother's eyes gone hard and hateful.

Erwin stopped, but he did not retreat, some remarkable, deceptive calm preventing his voice and expression from wavering. "We need to leave quickly. That first shot I fired won't go unnoticed. We can take him with us, but we need to leave the area."

But Jill didn’t move. Her hold on her son’s body tightened and she turned her gaze back to him, tears finally spilling down onto his face. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said, her voice a groan fighting back wails. “This is your fault.”

Of all people, Levi looked taken aback at that statement. His eyes shifted from Jill to Erwin and then to Mike and the others, expecting someone to defend the commander, but none of them spoke.

"Staying out here is suicide," Erwin protested. "You have another child to protect--an infant that cries unpredictably. It would be nearly impossible even without that unknown element." He did kneel then, wanting to get on eye level with Jill, who up until that point was the greatest point of resistance, but he did not try to move any closer. He just lowered himself slowly to the cold tile, his eyes seeking Jill's. "You don't have to like me. You don't even have to trust me. I'm only asking that you recognize the difference in your odds." He glanced up at Kareem then, obviously hoping to hear him chime in with an agreement.

Jill was openly weeping now, her eyes screwed shut, but when they opened again to stare at Erwin, they were wild, furious. “This is the worst our odds have been!” she screamed, never giving Kareem the opportunity to agree or disagree. “My _child_ \--” Her voice cracked and she took a breath. “John Kareem is dead, and it’s because of you!”

“Hold up,” Levi said firmly, stepping forward though he didn’t kneel. He met Jill’s fiery, hateful stare, unfaltering. Her grief was foreign to him, but her wrath was not. That, he might could level with. “You really think this is Erwin’s fault?”

“He said we would be safe,” Jill snarled. “He should have been watching.”

“And that somehow absolves you of your personal responsibility? For your brats? _Yourself?_ ” He stepped even closer and bent, though he still did not go to his knees to meet her at eye level. “Anyone can promise you safety, Jill. And hell, maybe they can actually provide it. Erwin’s done so for me. But in a world like this, you’re not guaranteed _shit_. You can pray, you can fight, you can follow people like Erwin, but at the end of the day, you are responsible for yourself and for yours.” He jabbed a finger at her accusingly, and for some reason he felt like he was talking to a mirror. “You could have been watching your kid. This is no more Erwin’s fault than yours. Or Kareem’s, or mine, or John Kareem’s. Shit happens, we fuck up, and people die." Levi realized then that he was raising his voice but he made no effort to lower it again. "I know it feels damn good to point a finger, but you’re not going to pin this on someone who has done nothing but fight to protect people that didn’t deserve it.”

In the stunned silence that followed, Erwin reached up and curled his fingers lightly around the back of Levi's calf, but before he could say anything to him, Kareem spoke up quietly.

"You should go." His tone was calmer, hoarse with grief but perfectly rational. Erwin's attention focused on him, his eyes hard with the distance he forced upon himself.

"You won't survive out here."

"Jill is right," Kareem said simply. "We were surviving. We were doing alright until you picked us up."

“Tch,” Levi scoffed, standing at his full height again and pulling his leg from Erwin’s grip as he turned to head towards the cooler, where there were still some bottles of Aquafina. “Fucking irresponsible. Good luck.”

Erwin stood slowly, but it wasn't so easy for him to walk away. "Let us fill your car for you at the very least."

"We'll work something out ourselves, Commander," Kareem gritted out. "All I want from you are the weapons you took."

"Of course," Erwin said stiffly. "We'll leave them by your vehicle with a map of the route we're taking. If you don't want to travel with us, that's fine, but the US government is based on the Sina. I recommend you try to make your way there."

Kareem's lips tightened into a thin line, but he nodded.

Levi passed them again, his arms full of cans and bottles. As he drew closer, he let one bottle slip from his grip and land in the floor beside them before he continued out to the humvees.

“What’s going on in there?” Auruo asked him as he came out. He and Petra were leaning against a humvee and loading it with gas.

“Nothing important,” Levi replied shortly. They looked to the commander for verification, but he was striding briskly towards humvee one.

"Get their car detached," he told Mike, yanking open the back door and reaching in for the family's bag of weapons and his own annotated map. The density notes he'd made were useless and he had all their possible routes memorized anyway, so he tucked it in with the pitiful assortment of guns and ammunition and left it sitting on the hood of their car, brushing by the small handful of soldiers that had clustered around the bumper to detach the line. "Wrap this up quickly," he told them. That gunshot had all but ensured that the station's security had been badly compromised, and the thought of what may be coming for them made him cold. "Don't worry about completely filling the tanks. Just enough to get us out of here."

Erwin pulled himself into the passenger seat and closed the door. He'd intended to radio the other drivers and tell them to pull around, but he paused, sitting there with the radio hanging loose in his hand. Something flared suddenly behind his ribs, bursting out of him so unexpectedly that when his knuckles struck the dashboard in front of him the sharp lance of pain caught him completely off guard.

"Woah there," Levi said as he crawled into the back and closed the door behind him. His voice was low, slow, wary, like a man calming a wild animal. "We've already destroyed one humvee. Let's take care of this one."

Erwin offered no reply to that, only sat back calmly in his seat as though the outburst had never happened. "I appreciate what you said to the family in there. If getting through to them had been possible I think between the two of us we ..."

"It wasn't just for them," Levi said quickly as he opened one of the bottles of water. "Don't let them make you think that that was your fault. I get that you have some kind of weird savior complex or you wouldn't have dragged me out of Niagara, but saving the world isn't your responsibility, and trying is just going to drag you down."

The commander studied Levi in the mirror, likely aiming to determine how seriously intended his words were and how honestly he should answer. "I was the one watching him last. That makes me at least partly responsible for what happened." Then something else occurred to him that actually made him groan. "He asked if we could get candy. I all but gave him permission to go in there."

"If you think of it that way," Levi replied, "we're all partly responsible. I saw him head off and I thought he was going to his mother. He misunderstood you. That's all there is to it."

Erwin wasn't going to argue about it. He honestly appreciated what Levi was trying to do, he just didn't buy into the other man's reasoning. Jill hadn't been entirely wrong. She'd left John Kareem in Erwin's care and it was under his care that the child had been killed. As a parent, part of the responsibility rested on Jill's shoulders, but as the commander who had been responsible for the safety of everyone in his company, part of it was also his. He nodded tightly to acknowledge Levi and raised the radio to his lips.

"Drivers to the front. Prepare to move out."

Jill and Kareem still had not left the gas station when the convoy finally got on the move. Mike was cryptically silent, unsure of how to comfort his friend and unwilling to speak and break the silence. Even Levi was quiet, wrapping himself in blankets and staring out the window. Hanji was looking between them, concerned, chewing on their chapped lips as though they had something they wanted to say.

“I told them to put John Kareem down,” they announced quietly, trying for once to be sensitive to the situation. “No one else mentioned it. If my parasite theory is correct--” the doctor cut themselves off here, though it took visible effort for them to do so. “A body has no immune system for the parasite to fight off. I warned them, so maybe they’re okay.” Their words were strange and stilted, like Hanji wasn’t accustomed to paraphrasing themselves. Levi reached over and patted their knee, a silent congratulations on their exercise in brevity.

It was a long time before Erwin added, “Thank you, Hanji.”

 


	12. Something About The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For your safety, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long time silence again, guys! We've had lots of hang-ups (a funeral, a dead phone, a back injury, and rewriting this chapter about four times) but we are not on hiatus! We have other chapters that will need work, but we will continue to limp along. <3

_His blood ran as darkly as ink over the tile, grout lines filling like canals bursting their banks. His throat was gone, his abdomen was gone. The head was unkind._ He said we would be safe _. Like a mantra,_ and it’s because of you _. Half asleep, there was no way to argue or compartmentalize, only blood over white tile, jet black curls. His subconscious knew the routes to everything he filed away._

_This is the worst our odds have ever been._

The humvee rocked on its tires and Erwin was immediately awake, surfacing like he had from Niagara with his chest on fire and water in his eyes, unable to tell up from down. The humvee shifted, and for a wild, incredible second his mind did fly back to Canada and he was sitting there in the front seat with his back bumper in the water, feeling every inch lost to the churning river. The commander’s eyes blinked open, his lap coming into focus. Something was off about the light, which was faint, but present once the eyes adjusted. It wavered slowly across his lap, shadows passing slowly between Erwin’s window and the sky.

John Kareem slinked back into the filing cabinet like a child caught out of bed.

Erwin moved very slowly, feeling like one of the human statues in Times Square as he lifted his chin to look out of the windshield, knowing in his gut what he would see. Still, the sight made him suck in a quiet breath.

The road around them was packed with Romeros. They parted peacefully around the back of humvee one like a stream of souls on the river Lethe. He’d never seen the creatures so utterly tranquil, moving as one body like a school of lazy fish cruising along a deep sea current. There were easily enough of them out there to swamp the humvees in less than a heartbeat, to cover them, to climb over each other until they swelled across the roofline like ants on a disabled beetle. The windshields, durable as they were, would crack under all that weight.

Erwin raised his armrest and, moving at a sloth’s pace, slid sideways out of his seat and onto the floor, glancing only briefly at Mike, who was out cold on the driver side producing sounds that made Erwin’s skin prickle with tension. His second in command could sleep through a nuclear war, but rousing him could be a loud, jerky mess. So it was Levi’s mouth he covered with his palm, easing into the back of the humvee as quickly as he dared and pressing an arm down into the other man’s sleeping chest to contain any unwanted movement as he shook him awake.

Levi woke with surprising ease, with little to signal the change in consciousness but a quick breath through his nose and a hard shove against Erwin’s arm. His reaction to being restrained was almost immediate--he began to struggle until he realized who it was bearing down on him against his seat and that he could still breathe with relative ease. He stilled, narrow eyes resting suspiciously on Erwin, though he did not relax. He reached up and pushed the commander's hand away, but when another body bumped harmlessly into the humvee’s bumper, he froze again, eyes widening in instantaneous realization.

“A situation has developed outside,” Erwin said simply.

With another gentle push against the commander Levi turned his head slowly to see out of the tinted window. “Fuck,” he croaked. He turned to look through Hanji’s window and the windshield as well. “ _Fuck_.”

The commander tightened his grip on Levi’s arms, ready to push him back and pin him if he truly started panicking. “They haven’t noticed us, but we need to keep it that way. Help me cover the windows.”

Levi nodded and shook Erwin’s arm free. He wriggled out of the finely wrapped burrito that was his blanket and climbed into the back with impressive silence. “Do you have tape?”

“In the crate behind Hanji’s seat,” came the answer, almost directly behind him. Erwin passed him, moving slowly so as not to rock the humvee from the inside as he moved deeper into the vehicle, aiming for the tarps that they kept in one of the crates on the other side for just this purpose. “I have the tarps over here … somewhere.” Going on the assumption that humvee one had been repacked correctly, their tarps should be in one of the top crates, which put Erwin in direct view of the back window. “The tint on these is fairly heavy,” he thought to warn Levi as he wiggled a handful of tarps free and dropped the stack onto the floor, “but don’t move too quickly. They aren’t a perfect cover.”

They worked their way up the humvee in relative silence, encountering little to discuss until they reached the front and Levi paused beside Mike, staring down at the snoring man.

“I could probably sit right in his lap and tape up his window and he’d never notice.” That wasn’t what he did, though. He stretched over Mike the same way they had leaned around Hanji and tacked two corners before he tried spreading the rest over the windshield. It didn’t go far.

"Wait until I have access to some kind of camera," Erwin said. "If we get a disposable at a gas station I know a senator who might be able to develop them the old fashioned way. He has a hobby."

“Senators have hobbies? I didn’t even realize they were sentient.” When the windshield was covered, he climbed into the back again, now maybe a little too confident in his speed despite the fact that two windows on the passenger side were still uncovered. “You know, you could probably let the others sleep through this.”

"Slow down," Erwin said simply, finishing his own careful tape job before ducking below the last window on the driver’s side and starting all over again there. "If the horde passes before dawn, letting them sleep wouldn't be too problematic, but once the sun rises, they will become a lot more visible, tinted windows or no."

“Then here,” Levi replied, scooting back to him and taking the tarp and tape from him. “Start getting a hold of them. I can manage this.”

"Slowly," Erwin repeated. "Have you flown in an airplane before?"

“Oh, yeah,” Levi said dismissively. He nudged Erwin over gently so that he could reach to the far corner of the window. He had taken Erwin’s advice and slowed down a bit, but when another Romero bumped harmlessly into the humvee his pace quickened again, and it almost looked like his hands were shaking, though that could have been from the lingering cold of the Falls.

Erwin's fingers closed firmly around Levi's wrist, forcing him to stop, at least with that hand. "It's like the safety presentation they give on every plane," he said quietly, his voice deliberately even. "You make sure that you are secure before assisting others. We're no use to anyone if we are compromised ourselves. And in any case, we have Hanji to consider. Their safety must always come first." He squeezed Levi's wrist lightly. "They haven't seen us yet."

Levi looked at Erwin long and hard, as if contemplating something before he finally nodded. He tore off another piece of tape and passed the roll back to Erwin and taped up another corner. “All that’s left is the windshield.”

"You'll have to lean over Mike again," Erwin warned him, trying for humor that didn't quite fly on the delivery. "Will you need ear protection?"

“If you’ve got any, it would be worth a shot.” Levi’s expression was dead serious. He returned to the front and brought up the extra bit of the tarp from the passenger back seat to cover Erwin’s window.

Erwin moved slowly to help him, taking the bullet and leaning over Mike to hold a second tarp over the windshield to hide them both. As he was raising it, though, he paused. "Levi, freeze."

A couple of Romeros had changed course, peeling out of the main current to drift towards them. As they moved against the flood, a few more ran into them and changed direction, following this new group across the larger stream. They didn't seem worked up. It wasn't clear whether they'd seen something or were just toddling over to investigate, but Erwin was in a terrible position leaning across the dashboard with his hands on a tarp he hadn't completely lifted to cover them, looking over the top at the vacant faces approaching them. He didn't dare look sideways to see what Levi was doing, but he didn't think his posture situation was much better.

There was a hissed string of curses from the other side of the vehicle, but it didn’t rock with movement, despite how Levi was still shaking, cold and precariously propped between an armrest and a door handle, one hand supporting his body and the other holding the tarp. There was a dreadful moment where the small but expanding group inspected the vehicle, stared at the windows about as hard as something with their brain capacity could stare, their dead eyes twitching back and forth in their sockets, catching their reflections in the glass, bending in, bouncing off, too stupid to be confused.

And then Mike shifted, rolling just slightly onto his side with a half-snore.

Every head snapped around in unison, zeroing in on the movement as one unit and suddenly they looked  a lot more like the Romeros Erwin knew. "Cover it," the man gritted out, yanking his end of the tarp up over the windshield. He was hoping that perhaps that they would lose interest in the sharp movement once they met with a boring, solid wall of nothing. If they didn't swarm over the windshield first. Levi jerked his side up as well and taped it, reaching down to secure the bottom corner in almost the same movement. He stared hard at the covered windshield, breathing slowly and quietly as if the Romeros could have heard him, though he turned and looked at Erwin when the humvee rocked with more force than a body simply bumping into it, open hands reaching out, slamming down on the glass.

There was a long, dreadful pause and then the humvee rocked again, and then one more time, tipping under the weight of the Romeros leaning into it, trying to climb over their neighbors and onto the hood.

"They'll lose interest," Erwin murmured, though he reached around Levi for the humvee's main radio, perching on the passenger armrest and stretching the cord around Levi. "This is humvee one. Does anyone copy?"

The silence couldn’t have lasted longer than a couple of seconds, but oh, was it agonizing.

“This is Armin,” came the answer through the static. “We’re about to start covering our windows.”

"Are any of the Romeros expressing interest in your vehicle?"

"I don't think so," Armin replied hesitantly. “I can’t tell what the sides look like without looking.”

"Don't do that. Humvee one has attracted some minor attention, but we are fully blacked out. Standby for further orders."

“Copy that,” Armin replied before the radio silenced again.

"Humvee four, humvee five," Erwin continued quietly. "We have Romeros passing on all sides. Report your status." He paused, giving them a moment to get to the radio. "Four and five, do you copy?"

In the quiet that followed, Levi slipped back into the back seat of the humvee to give Erwin a little more room. Erwin slid into his seat with a short nod, though he caught himself leaning unconsciously away from the passenger window.

“We have what?” Ymir groaned, though before Erwin had a chance to answer she whispered, “ _oh shit_.”

“Get your vehicle secured and then radio back with your status.” He glanced over at Mike as the humvee shifted on his side, bearing down beneath a little extra weight. Something scraped over the hood, scrabbling up, then a small thump and a gentle rocking announced that the Romero had climbed up onto the front of the humvee. Erwin scowled, listening to the slow, almost cautious explorations of the creature outside, just inches away. It didn’t sound like the Romero had gotten up in the usual way, which involved a lot of trampling and climbing over other bodies. It had just … hopped up. “Nanaba,” he said, a little more sharply. “Humvee four, report your status.”

“Sorry to interrupt, Sir,” Krista breathed, her voice barely audible over the radio interference. “But the Romeros outside have begun …”

“Flipping their actual shit,” Ymir finished, her voice muffled by distance. “Tell him they are all over us.”

“I heard you.” If the sounds and movement coming from outside was any indication--and increase in the force of the bodies being thrown into the sides of the vehicle--the situation outside was snowballing. And humvee four’s windows were still not covered.

“I think they’re on us, too,” Armin reported from humvee two. “But how did they know to attack us? We never drew their attention.”

“Nevermind that for now,” Erwin said. “Humvee five, are your tarps in place?”

“We just got the last one up,” Krista said, suppressed panic clear in her voice.

Levi lifted one corner of a tarp and saw the direction of the general crowd changing, more and more Romeros being drawn to the noise of those already far too interested in humvee five. “Erwin,” he said urgently, though he didn’t turn away from the glass. “Look.”

The commander moved to join Levi, bending around him until his nose nearly brushed the cold window. “Humvee five,” he said grimly, his attention trained on the directional shift the Romeros were making. There were still plenty on humvee one, but the newcomers generally seemed to be drifting farther back. How far back exactly, Erwin couldn’t tell. “Very carefully look out your windshield and tell me if the Romeros have taken interest in four.”

There was a long pause, and finally, “They’re looking in and pushing it around, but they’re doing that to us as well,” Krista replied shakily.

“Get Hanji up,” Erwin said quickly to Levi, his tone leaving no room for argument. “The rest of you, get ready to defend yourselves if that becomes necessary.” He reached up to rid himself of the radio and ducked around Levi to go and shake his second in command awake.

Mike wasn’t as difficult to rouse as usual, but waking him was still a nightmare. He was disoriented and irritable, though once he realized who was shaking him he sat up immediately and looked around. With the tarps covering the windows and Levi roughly shaking the doctor back to consciousness, it didn’t take him long to realize what was happening.

“We haven’t been able to contact humvee four,” Erwin briefed him quickly. “The others have their windows blacked out, but the Romeros are getting agitated. Take over the coms.”

Mike was quick to comply, as though he had only been waiting for Erwin’s word. Amidst low, urgent, “Humvee four, do you copy?”s, Levi was still struggling to rouse the doctor from a deep sleep and the way he shook them was bordering on violent. When they did finally come awake, they did so with a jerky start, their hands scrabbling for Levi's forearms.

"Christ Almighty, what is going on?" they breathed, looking around with wide eyes. "Levi, what the hell? Are the windows covered?"

" _Shhh_ , Romeros are going apeshit outside," Levi replied quickly. There was a pause, a brief disconnect before he glanced up at Erwin and turned to start clearing out a crate. "Help me clean this out," he said urgently. "If shit really hits the fan, this is going to be your hiding spot."

"You can't put me in there," Hanji said immediately, as though they weren't thinking about what they were saying. "I'm a researcher not a doc in a box."

"This doc is going in this box whether they like it or not," Levi ground out as he pulled the last of the tarps from the crate and pulled it closer to Hanji.

"Absolutely not," the doctor protested. "This is an invaluable opportunity to observe the Romeros unseen. I could gain valuable insight into their behavior!" They also looked towards Erwin, clearly hoping for interference.

"Stay close," the commander said. "If they the windshield looks like it's going to cave, you're getting into the crate. Otherwise you can make your observations _carefully_."

"Nanaba," Mike was repeating with increasing volume, "Nanaba, do you copy?"

Erwin reached over the seat to put a hand over the larger man’s shoulder, reminding him without words where they were. "Levi, come back here with me." He patted Mike and moved deeper into the humvee to open one of their long, heavy weapons crates. First he gathered items for himself, quickly sliding extra magazines into his pockets and pulling a few more of the Academy machetes from the top tier of the crate, then he lifted the top half out to reveal a second layer of gray packing foam, lines of grenades neatly tucked into their little holes like lethal eggs. Levi crawled back after him, eyes on the crate, expression unreadable.

"Are you thinking about using this as a defense or distraction?" he asked, finally tearing his eyes away to peek under the rear window tarp. He had intended to look for the other humvees, but instead he saw a tattered and filthy AC/DC shirt, and arms clawing at the glass.

"I will use them for whatever becomes necessary," Erwin stated grimly, adding a cluster to his growing collection of armaments. "And you may need to as well."

Levi turned back to the box and plucked one grenade out, holding it very gingerly between his fingers.

"Humvee five, can you still see four?" Mike asked, his voice strained but under control.

"There are too many bodies between us," Ymir replied curtly, "but it doesn't look like they've put tarps up yet."

Hanji glanced over their shoulder at the commander. "Humvee four?" But they turned away again with a frown, evidently working out for themselves what the problem was.

"We can't get them on the radio," Erwin explained anyway, keeping it brief because he had half an eye on Levi, who was handling the grenade like it would go off in his hand.

"There's a safety pin," the commander explained. "And also a clip. When you use it, remove the pin like this." He demonstrated without actually pulling the clip off. "When you're ready to throw, hold this down--it's called the spoon--using your thumb and pull the pin while depressing the spoon. As long as you have that lever pressed, the grenade won't go off. Once you throw it, the striker will ignite the fuse and then you're live, so you need to find cover. The kill radius on a grenade like this one is five meters, but you'll have definite casualties up to fifteen meters and you can get injuries as far as 200 meters, so you don't want to throw this unless you and yours are able to get cover."

"Got it," Levi said simply, his tone grim as he set the grenade back into its slot, hand still shaking with cold and stress. But Erwin reached out and took Levi by the elbow, lifting his arm until his hand was within reach.

"No, you better take this," he said, lifting the grenade from its padding and setting it in Levi's palm. Feeling the tremors running through his fingers, though, had Erwin pausing. "You're a civilian," he said, holding Levi's hand closed around the grenade. "If things get any worse, clear a crate for yourself as well."

"Meaning that if all goes to hell, you're sticking the doctor with me and hoping we can still make it to the shore," Levi said plainly, looking up at Erwin though he made no move to pull his hand away.

"Yes," Erwin confirmed. "Hanji knows the way. I've been keeping them apprised of our route changes in case something happened. But you know as well as I do that a person can't survive out here on their own."

"We can fit two people into those boxes," Levi replied, looking down at the crate and up again at the one full of MREs. The possibility was a stretch, at best.

"You may be in them for several days," Erwin said grimly. "It wouldn't hurt anything to empty another. The one behind you is clothing and bedrolls. It may be easiest."

"Tch." Levi jerked his hand free and turned away to begin emptying the crate Erwin had indicated, his expression betraying his frustration.

"I appreciate it," Erwin said quietly, glancing up towards the front of the vehicle where a sliver of Hanji's face was illuminated by the ambient light outside. "I think together, the two of you would make it. It would be a relief to know you were with the doctor." Levi didn't respond to that. He stayed there in the back, still the contents of the now empty crates while Erwin returned to the front. "I'll take over," he said quietly to Mike. "Go and arm yourself."

It was clear that Mike was hesitant to leave the radio, but after a pause and a sigh, he passed it to Erwin and climbed into the back with Levi. “Doctor, do you remember how to use an automatic weapon?” he asked as he loaded a new magazine into some kind of rifle.

"Well enough, I think," Hanji answered, barely looking away from the window. "The bullets come out of the end with the hole in it, right?"

Mike rolled his eyes and passed the rifle up to them without a word, followed by a sidearm. He passed a couple more automatics up towards the front and left them on the center platform and then, with more than a little hesitation, he handed one to Levi, as well as a sidearm. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing with these?”

“Well, the doctor just gave me my first hint. This end, right?” Levi pointed at the barrel, but Mike was already crawling back to the front.

"For now, just point and shoot," Erwin said, too focused for humor. "Hanji will show you where the safety is."

Hanji didn't even seem to realize they'd been volunteered, though, so Erwin waited until Mike was out of their line of vision and leaned around the seat to show Levi where he meant. "Can you see this?" He asked.

“Yep,” Levi replied curtly, looking down at the weapon in his hands, though he was not as focused as Erwin. It primarily had to do with the way that the humvee rocked a little harder than before. Erwin glanced over at Hanji as though he intended to ask them for an update, but the radio interrupted.

"Humvee one, do you copy?" Nanaba groaned sleepily. "We have Romeros all up our asses. Are you guys awake?"

“Christ, Nanaba, we’ve been trying to get a hold of you for forever,” Mike breathed into the radio, and his voice was almost a laugh, light with relief. “All other humvees have radioed in and have their windows covered.”

"Shit, sorry," the captain replied. "I guess we were all wiped out. I have Petra and Eld up and they're working on covering us now, but it's difficult. Romeros are already so close that the movement is getting them wound up."

“Just get them secured as quickly as possible and radio when you’ve finished,” Mike replied with another sigh. He placed the radio back in its cradle and slumped in his seat. “I thought I was the heavy sleeper of the company, but apparently five people have me beat by a mile.”

"I have no doubt that you'd have slept through the entire thing," Erwin corrected, bending to lay his rifle on the floorboard. "You need to sleep if you can. If we survive this, we’ll need our driver fully conscious."

“I’ll give it my best shot,” he promised, “but I can’t guarantee anything.” His statement was punctuated by something hitting the window with a fair amount of force, and a faint, failed clawing sound.

"I believe in your abilities," Erwin said drily, reaching up for the main radio. "Tomorrow, if we survive the night, we will be determining who was supposed to be on watch," he began.

"That was Ymir," Connie said quickly. "I traded off with her an hour and a half ago." The girl's background silence was confirmation enough.

" _Tomorrow_ I will be having a word with Ymir about safety protocols for this convoy," Erwin continued. "For now, set a watch for each vehicle and radio if anything changes. Nanaba, how are your tarps coming?"

"Slowly," was the response from the other humvee. "Very slowly. About as slowly as it is physically possible for living humans to move."

"Is the situation escalating?" Erwin asked them, not wanting to give the order for everyone to begin their shifts until he was certain that things outside were relatively stable. It would take the Romeros a while to calm, but Erwin felt tentatively comfortable that without any further agitation, the crowd would break and settle.

"It's getting a little hairy," Nanaba admitted. "They can definitely see us moving in here, but they aren't quite agitated enough for the glass not to throw them for a loop."

Levi lifted a corner of the tarp on his window. “They’re starting to migrate away from our humvee …” he reported with a little concern. Less Romeros on their vehicle was good for them, but potentially bad for humvee four.

"Nanaba, how much have you covered?" Erwin asked.

"Most of it. There's only a little left towards the back."

"Levi says we have Romeros moving off our vehicle--"

"Confirmed," Hanji agreed. "They are definitely leaving. Headed back towards the rear."

Levi slid quickly into the back and looked through the tarp on the rear window again. "They're leaving humvee two as well."

Hanji taped their corner back down and joined Levi quickly in the back, moving carefully around the tidy piles of unloaded items he’d lined up in rows. "Humvee four needs to get moving," they called up. "Things are about to get ugly back there."

"It's gone very quiet outside," Krista reported from five, but Erwin did not respond directly. Instead he raised the radio to his lips.

"Nanaba," Erwin told them. "Forget about moving slowly. Get those tarps in place."

"Tell them not to make any sudden jerking movements," Hanji added quickly. "They can go fast, but smooth."

"Hanji says not to move sharply."

"That's easier said than done," the captain gritted out, though they added, "Stand by."

"How far back can you see?" Mike turned and asked the two in the back.

"Far enough to see that there's a huge crowd gathered several meters away and they are very excited," Levi replied. He abandoned the back and climbed back up towards the front two seats, leaving Hanji with their nose pressed to the glass. "Should I get a grenade ready?"

"Just don't pull any pins," Erwin said. "Wait for their report."

"Covered!" Nanaba said, their breath sounding shaky even over the radio. "They're going absolutely wild out there but I don't think they're on the hood. They're all at the back where we were covering windows."

"That's good news," Erwin sighed. If the Romeros were focused on the back, they could press all they wanted against each other but it would be difficult to break the reinforced glass. The windshield, where weight was a greater factor, was a much more vulnerable point. "Don't let them start piling up at the front," he told them. "If you have to lure them to the rear, so be it, but keep them off you."

Mike settled back in his seat, though occasionally his eyes flickered up to the rear view mirror despite the fact that he couldn't see out of the back window. "I'm going to try to sleep. Wake me if there are any updates."

Erwin nodded, his thumb tensing on the call button in preparation to call. "I will. All but humvee four begin shifting out. Drivers sleep the rest of the night. Humvee four stay alert."

"No way not to," Nanaba groused. "It's like a Disney ride in here but with less cheerful singing and a lot more dire consequences for sticking arms and legs out of the vehicle."

Levi placed his weapons in his seat and took his blanket from the floorboard. He stretched out over the platform, his feet brushing one of the empty crates and his head just between the front seats.

"Wish I'd thought of that," Mike said when he looked over to see what all of the movement was for.

"You don't kick things in your sleep, do you?" Erwin asked, thinking of all the grenades he didn't want scattered in crevices and rolling along the floorboards.

"Nah," Levi replied casually. "Probably won't go to sleep anyway."

"I'm taking first watch for humvee one," Erwin said. "If you're still feeling alright in a couple of hours you can have the second."

"I'll take it regardless of how I feel," the other man insisted. "I'm the least in need of sleep."

Erwin nodded, shifting into a more comfortable position and dragging his forgotten blanket back into his lap. "I'll wake you then if you do end up sleeping."

“Alright.” Levi shifted under the blanket, sacrificing his shoulders to the cold to keep his feet warm.

Erwin allowed the silence to lapse until it was broken only by a soft, tentative snore--the first drops before the flood. The commander peeled back the tarp and watched, looking directly into each straining, furious face and dismissing them each in turn:  Too tall. Too wide. Too blonde. Too female. His stomach clenched in expectation each time his eyes settled on one of them, but all of them were strangers.

“Looking for someone?” Levi moved again, now sitting up in between the front seats, legs crossed in front of him. He pulled the blanket tightly over his shoulders and around his sides and curled in on himself as he looked up to see through the corner of the tarp where Erwin was looking.

"Sleep while you can," Erwin told him, his breath fogging the cool window as he spoke. "An hour isn't a long time when you're exhausted."

“It’s not as easy for some of us as it is for Mike.”

“Well,” Mike sighed, “it isn’t easy for Mike either, so one of you need to sleep.” He continued to murmur and complain to himself while he turned as far onto his side as the seat would allow, his back facing them.

Erwin snorted. "If you're that awake, Levi, you can take first watch," he said, sliding low into his seat. "Get me up in an hour unless you need me before then."

Mike cleared his throat, and while it wasn’t louder than necessary, it was excessively clear what he was getting at. Levi didn’t speak but he sat up straighter and stretched, his back popping with several unpleasant cracks before he settled back into his blanket with a sigh.

The silence stretched. John Kareem lurked behind Erwin's closed eyelids, his carefree grin--something that Erwin hadn't seen in so long--and his blood, _dark like ink, pushing sluggishly across the grimy tile. Where is John Kareem?_

_This is the worst our odds have ever been._

The humvee tipped sharply, bowing under the weight of a hundred scrambling bodies. Erwin couldn't banish the image of ants from his head--ants layered on so thick it was no longer possible to tell what it was they were swarming. The way their vehicle lurched, they would be rolled in seconds.

"Erwin!"

The commander's eyes snapped open, finding the humvee as dark as he left it, but quieter. Hanji had him by the shoulder, one foot on either side of Levi as they maneuvered around him to speak to the commander.

"The Romeros have gone. I haven't seen one in a little over half an hour."

Erwin's watch confirmed that they still had a couple of hours before they needed to move out, but it was well past the time that Levi was supposed to wake him. He glanced at the other man, but did not immediately comment.

"I'm going to crash," Hanji told them cheerfully. "Wake me if anything exciting happens."

"Humvee four reported a while back and said it's gone quiet there," Levi added, eyes closed as though he'd been asleep but his voice was just as awake as it had been before.

"You didn't wake me up," the commander replied, though there was no heat in the accusation.

"I didn't," Levi confirmed as he turned his head the other way. "You needed the rest. And now I do."

In the back, Hanji was already out cold, asleep almost as soon as their head was down, their breathing gone heavy and rhythmic. Erwin shifted, sitting up a little straighter in his seat, and he peeled the tarp back to peer into the quiet darkness outside.

It was so still out there it was like Erwin's unit were the only creatures moving over the Earth. Somehow, this made it all the more disturbing.

"You were sleeping pretty fitfully." Although the statement tapered off uncertainly, there was no clear question, but rather an opening to talk.

"I don't normally sleep much in the field."

"You don't usually toss and turn so much, either. If you need to give it another go, I can stay up a bit longer."

"I'll be okay until we stop somewhere and hunker down," the commander assured him. "Tonight’s incident with humvee four has made it clear that the whole unit is running on empty. At this point, we would gain more by stopping to recuperate."

"If you say so. Do you know where we are?"

"More or less," Erwin said. "My map did not include mile markers, so my reckoning is likely a little rough. Speaking of maps, I'm in the market, so if you happen across one, pick it up."

Levi grunted in response and sighed. He pulled the blanket up to cover his shoulders and wrapped it tightly around him like a burrito. The tarps had helped a little with the cold but it was still uncomfortable in the humvee and he finally turned into his side to pull his knees to his chest. Erwin barely acknowledged it, replacing the corner of the tarp and leaning forward to look through the windshield as well.

It looked like there had been some casualties out there. Several Romeros lay crumpled on the ground around the vehicle, one partially sprawled over their bumper. It was strange. The head still looked completely intact, the only visible injury being the chunk of flesh missing from the back of its neck. Erwin moved closer to the window. "There's a Romero out here with a neck injury. The head looks intact, but it looks like maybe one of the others bit into its spine."

"Is it still moving?" Levi asked, though he didn't move to look now that he'd bothered to get comfortable.

"No, the injury appears to have put it down. I think this confirms Hanji's theory about damage to the upper spine."

"Huh. Alright then. I wonder how another one managed to get lucky enough to do that."

"Or unlucky," Erwin said. "It's strange though. Usually when they're trampled the Romeros still move around. Rarely are the skulls crushed. These are just ... Laying there."

At that point, Levi did sit up straight. He leaned over the dash and looked under the tarp. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it seemed that all heads were indeed still intact.

"Huh …"

"We'll have Hanji take a look at them when the sun rises. I don't want anyone out there in the dark."

"I wouldn't want anyone out there at all …" Levi sighed. He finally released the tarp and sat back down on the platform, leaving Erwin to secure the tape and ease back into his own seat.

"If there's something to be found out there it can't be helped. Hanji won't have these kinds of opportunities on the Sina."

As Erwin spoke Levi settled back down on his stomach. He didn’t say anything for a long while, and at one point his breathing did start to slow, but after the silence had been settled for too long, he took a deep breath.

“What happened today wasn’t your fault,” he said firmly, decisively, as though he had been mulling it over in his head for a while and had finally come to the hard decision to just blurt it out. “So don’t give yourself hell about it.”

His declaration was met with a sharp pause. Of all the things that could have come out of Levi's mouth, this was one of the least expected. Erwin looked over at him, barely able to make him out after looking for too long into the brighter darkness outside. The commander opened his mouth to reply, only to realize that no response was forthcoming.

He didn't know what drove him to do it, what strange madness compelled him to move, twisting his arm from the blanket in his lap to reach over the armrest and reach out. Levi's undercut was soft like puppy fur to the touch--likely a bit longer than Levi would have worn it. It slid easily through Erwin's fingers, though they didn't drift far. His touch was light, barely there, but it wasn't tentative. Maybe it was something about the dark.


	13. The Cookie Crumbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The company keeps trucking along, though their odds of survival are probably rigged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! We optimistically expect things to pick up some starting now. Kasey got a new job and has been in training for the past five weeks and Olivia is working two jobs herself, so our free time rarely lines up anymore. To combat this, we have mutually decided to drop some of our more obsessive editing practices in favor of getting the chapters up more quickly.
> 
> We don't want anyone to worry that the fic will be abandoned. As of right now, all is well (if slow) and we fully intend to see this through to the end. Thank you all so much for continuing to read and comment and ask after the status of the fic. It means a lot knowing that you all care about seeing it continue. <3

When Levi awoke the next morning, watery sunlight was just beginning to stream in through Erwin's window. A tiny beam was wide enough to find his eye.

He shifted in an attempt to move away from the offending light, but found that he was significantly heavier than he had been the night before. Some of it could be credited to the heavy layer of sleep still clinging desperately to his limbs and eyelids, but part of it was something on top of him. There was a coat, two sizes too big at least, that had not been there before. It smelled nice, cleaner than a lot of other clothes he'd smelled lately, filling his nose with earthy scents and a faint undertone of cologne.

Erwin and Mike were both awake and speaking over the hum of the engine. He lay there a moment longer and enjoyed the warmth of the coat before finally he slid out from under it and crawled back into his seat without a word. Hanji was still out cold, curled loosely with their head pillowed against the raised floorboard. They didn't even stir as Levi moved past them.

"Good morning." Erwin's eyebrows rode high on his forehead in a pair of amused arches when the smaller man reached up to retrieve the coat.

"Bigfoot," Levi groused, glancing up to meet the blinding sun and the way it literally bounced off of Erwin, who was nothing but a conglomeration of fair features and light colors as Levi and his aching retinas were quickly learning. "Oh, I thought we were talking about things that don't exist." He slipped his arms into the coat and curled into his seat.

“We didn’t get eaten last night,” Erwin pointed out. “That should brighten your day.”

Levi grumbled unintelligibly as he burrowed under his blanket.

“We’ll have to wake Hanji,” Erwin went on, moving past the two passengers in the back to retrieve the MREs they would be eating for breakfast. “We need to have a look at those Romeros before the situation outside changes.” He frowned a little as he pulled the crate open and saw how close to the bottom they were getting. “Our food rations are getting low.”

"I can split one with someone," Levi offered. "I just want the tea."

"We have enough for now," Erwin said, passing them each a packet and leaving one out for Hanji. "We’ll just have to add food to our list of things to look out for when we stop.”

Levi uncovered enough to tear open his MRE and nudge Hanji. "I would highly recommend not stopping by any Walmarts, Targets, or the like because I made that mistake. Once."

"Why do we need to go to Walmart?" Hanji grumbled, rolling their head in a slow circle. "Tell me Erwin has finally recognized our very real need for pillows."

"I think I would stop for some of those," Mike sighed wistfully.

"Which do you prefer? Eating or being comfortable?" Erwin asked practically. "We may have space for a travel pillow, but finding one is on you. No Walmart runs."

"If we do find some let's not get him one," Hanji groused good-naturedly, snagging their MRE from the platform where Erwin had left it and retreating again into their blanket like a trapdoor spider.

"Anybody want my cookie?" Levi asked as he opened one of the bottles of water and stuffed the teabag in.

"I'll take it," Mike said quickly, laying claim over the sweet. Levi crawled onto the platform again and plopped the cookie in his lap before he placed the teabagged water bottle on the dash to heat up.

"How addicted to caffeine are you?" Erwin asked, his eye on the water bottle. Hanji passed Levi their teabag as well and swiped his packet of instant coffee, all without a word of explanation. They didn't make any move to drink the coffee though, something they had already explained far too extensively as a need to stockpile for when they started conducting research. Thinking ahead, they called it. Levi didn't comment on the exchange. It somehow seemed entirely natural between them.

"I made tea like this even before I was desperate," he replied. "It’s easy and pretty good."

"Really?" Hanji asked him curiously. "Before the apocalypse or after?"

"Before. I was curious."

Hanji favored him with an appreciative grin--pleased by his inquisitiveness--but did not comment. Instead, they leaned forward to look around Erwin at the road ahead of them. "Probably any of these little towns would do," they said. "We seem to be in a sparsely populated area."

"Sparsely populated by people," Levi agreed. "Apparently populated by hiding zombies."

“Speaking of unusual Romeros,” Erwin said, turning slightly in his seat. “Last night we saw that some of the dead ones have sections taken from the back of their necks almost like they were bitten out.”

“What?!” Hanji was out of their seat in a second, MRE still in hand as they darted into the front and yanked the corner of the tarp back to peer out.

"Yeah," Levi confirmed. "The ground was littered with them. Probably can't drive through it all."

Mike reached for the tarp as well, peeling it back and finally pulling it off when nothing outside took notice.

Only a couple of Romeros lingered around the cars, wandering aimlessly between bumpers or just standing dumbly by. The ground still had a fair amount of bloodied bodies lying around, but ...

"Are some of them missing?" Levi murmured, leaning around Hanji.

“Missing?” Hanji asked, drawing back so Erwin could see out as well. It was getting fairly crowded in the front seat. “How do you mean? The dead ones?”

The Romero Erwin had first noticed was still bent over their hood, it’s neck gaping at the back. That one hadn’t moved an inch, but there did seem to be more vacant space on the ground. “It was dark,” he said doubtfully. “We may have mistaken the number.”

“That would make the most logical sense,” Hanji agreed. “I doubt that a felled Romero would continue to reanimate. Once the brain is cut off, that’s it. The parasite could theoretically keep the brain alive if it was undamaged, but the body would be useless.”

But Levi continued to stare outside, brows drawn together, lips pursed. It had been dark. They _could_ be mistaken. Then again, they _could_ be wrong.

"Are you going to go out and examine them?" His tone betrayed exactly what he thought of that idea.

Hanji looked over at him in baffled wonder. “Of course I am.” Then they seemed to realize that it wasn’t actually certain and their head snapped around to look at Erwin. “I am.”

“We’ll secure the area for you as soon as we’ve finished eating,” the commander answered, Hanji already nodding rapidly before he finished. “And you will return to the vehicle at the very first sign of trouble, no questions asked.”

The doctor ate like a child who had been promised a trip to the candy store if they finished their food first, wolfing down the MRE and barely appearing to swallow. It was a wonder they made it through the experience without needing medical attention.

“You missed a spot,” Levi said as he leaned up into the front seat and reclaimed his cookie. Although Mike said nothing, the disappointment was clear on his face and in the way he hesitated, eyes on his empty, crumby lap. Levi looked at him in the rearview mirror and then to the MRE remains in his lap before he leaned forward again and took Mike’s untouched tea bag.

“Can I have your coffee?” Hanji asked him politely.

“Yeah,” Mike replied, dejected, and passed the pack back to the doctor. When he pulled his arm away and looked down again, more than half of the cookie had fatedly returned there.

“This is the man who will be watching your backs in a few moments,” Erwin said briskly, dragging the rifle from under his seat as he stood. “I’d leave him alone.”

"Not mine," Levi declared. "I'm staying in here and cranking the heat."

“You can watch his, then,” Erwin said, dropping a heavy pair of binoculars into the hitchhiker’s lap. “Mike, radio the others and tell them to see what things look like farther down the road.”

After Mike repeated Erwin's request, there was a long pause before Mikasa replied.

"Thermal isn't picking up anything at all in any direction."

"No movement in the trees either," Connie declared.

"Oh," Mikasa sighed. "Some of those on the ground are giving off a minor signature."

"How minor?" Erwin wanted to know.

"Very," she replied. "New dead, probably. Couple of hours at most."

"Are you getting any readings from under the vehicles?" Erwin thought to ask.

"Nothing," Mikasa replied with unmistakable certainty.

"Hanji and I will be getting out to examine some of the Romeros outside. Humvee five keep an eye on our rear. Four watch the right, three watch the left." He passed the radio to Mike, then looked back at Levi. "One of you cover the front. It's up to Mike. Are you ready, doctor?"

"Of course," Hanji answered, specimen bag sitting expectantly on their knees.

Mike and Levi didn't bother to discuss who would cover the front of the convoy. As Hanji and Erwin opened their doors, Levi climbed onto the platform with the binoculars and opened up the hatch without a word and Mike offered no protests.

"Would you take this?" Hanji asked, passing Erwin their specimen bag, which was about as heavy and cumbersome as it looked. He had to wrestle it under an arm so he had a hand free to draw his sidearm if that became necessary, though except for the few unfortunate stragglers that Mikasa picked off with a silenced rifle before anyone got out, the morning was quiet. Erwin followed Hanji around silently, watching the trees and the other cars and the downed Romeros rather than the doctor's gloved hands peeling flesh away to reveal pearly ridges of bone. They muttered to themselves as they worked, but when they finally spoke to Erwin it was obvious by the difference in pitch.

"Each Romero's spinal cord has been bitten into. The C2 vertebra, possibly the C1, are damaged in each case. I was correct. This degree of damage does sever the brain from the rest of the body. This suggests that ... Maybe the Romeros aren't quite as dead as we theorized."

"What do you mean by that ...?" Levi asked, peeling his eyes away from the binoculars to lean over the top of the humvee and look down at the doctor.

"These are completely inactive," Hanji answered. "Like ordinary corpses. Retinal response has ceased, meaning that the parasite must be tapped into more of the central nervous system than we thought. My god, if the body's systems are still working, perhaps it is possible to starve them." They ran the fingers of their free hand through their hair, partially dislodging their ponytail. "My god."

"So they are actually digesting and shitting people," Levi clarified.

"Possibly," Hanji murmured. "Possibly. I would have to dissect one of them to be sure."

But Erwin shook his head firmly. "Not here. Our visibility is no good."

"Erwin." The doctor pulled the bloody exam glove from their fingers and tossed it aside, their friendly face stony. "This could have other implications as well. Have you realized it yet?"

"The killing bite was the only mark on some of them. I have thought about that, but I also don't want to get too far ahead of the facts." He watched Hanji zip their specimen bag, which they'd left on the hood where Erwin had finally put it down. The doctor appeared to be chewing on the inside of their cheek.

"Do you think they're alive?" Levi asked quietly over the side of the humvee.

"Alive enough to walk and eat, if you can call that living," Mike snorted from the front seat.

"Don't say that conclusively yet," Hanji reminded them, taking the kit from the hood and moving to return to the vehicle. "It's only an hypothesis that has yet to be tested."

Levi looked around again at the bodies littering the ground, expression grim and air melancholy. "Huh," was all he said as his eyes wandered back to Erwin and Hanji.

Hanji immediately started scribbling notes--possibly before their ass even hit the seat. They spoke very little except to repeat fragments of sentences they'd just written--sometimes more than once--though their voice was too quiet to be clearly audible even if they hadn't been speaking medical jargon. Levi dropped back into the humvee and glanced at the notes, but it couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds before he decided that they were far over his head and settled back into his seat.

"Exit back onto highway 90 as soon as you can," he told Mike. "If the Romeros we saw last night are moving South and West out of Rochester, we need to rejoin our previous route and pick up the pace."

Maneuvering around the plethora of bodies proved to be a challenge even for Mike, but ultimately the convoy passed through with a comparatively small number of unpleasant crunches and bumps. Beyond that, the interstate made for surprisingly smooth sailing despite the occasional Romero wandering through the jammed up cars. The shoulder of the road was flat enough there, for the moment, that it was possible to skirt around them, leaving only the stray vehicles that had the same idea before all traffic stopped. Altogether, they towed only a handful. The convoy was able to nudge past the rest.

"So if they're eating people for an actual food source, why don't they eat each other?" Levi mused after some miles of silence.

"I can't say," Hanji said. "And that's a big 'if.' It's only a tentative hypothesis at best."

"Well, assuming all their senses work the same way ours do, would you want to eat something that looks and smells like a Romero?" Erwin asked.

Hanji sighed. "When they get hungry enough, they may well turn on each other. I would say that's what we're seeing the beginnings of here," they gestured to the hood of the vehicle where the Romero had been, "but that bite was too specific, too singular, to have been a feeding attempt. And there were several instances of the same occurrence in the same small group, so the odds of it being chance are fairly poor. More likely, we're witnessing a new behavior pattern, though I can't guess at what good such a behavior would do them. Perhaps some instinctive population control ..." They seemed to lose interest in talking then, returning to their notes.

Levi seemed to mull that thought over for a while, though he didn't speak again. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but if his expression was any indicator, it wasn't something pleasant.

"If they were a little smarter," Mike sighed as he straightened his back in an attempt to stretch, "I would say they're picking off their competition."

"That would mean they were competing with _each other_ ," Hanji said, shaking their head. "Apart from humans, there aren't many species in nature that will specifically target their own members. There is competition for resources, territory and mating rights and occasionally deaths will occur as a result, but that is rarely the intention. However ... _However_. Many species _will_ attack and kill sick or injured members of the same species." Hanji sat up a little straighter, looking over at Levi with wide eyes. "Perhaps there was something defective about those Romeros. That behavior doesn't require much intelligence at all. Nature demonstrates this tendency as far down as phylum Arthropoda."

"Defective?" Levi scoffed. "They're already dead, what could be more defective?"

"But _it's_ not dead. The _host_ is dead," Mike reminded him. "At least, mostly dead." He threw a quick look at the doctor in the rear view mirror as though seeking their approval before he turned his eyes back to the road.

Mike didn't speak again, didn't interject into the biology schooling Levi was receiving in the backseat until several minutes later, several miles farther down the road.

"Hey," he said softly, "get a load of this."

Spanning the entirety of the highway, a transfer truck was sitting still on all eighteen of its wheels, turned sideways like it had been deliberately parked there.

The humvee rolled to a stop.

"What's all that?" Hanji asked, leaning around Erwin to see through the front windshield. "A barricade?"

Erwin was also fixated on the scene before them. "There have been survivors here. Possibly military."

"Why do you say that?" Hanji asked, but the answer came to them before anyone could respond. "I see. The equipment necessary to move a truck that large could point to military personnel. Other people would be capable of doing that, though."

"I think the odds are good," Erwin insisted. "Not certain, but good."

"The question is who else is out here and why are they on the same route?" Mike mused, turning his head to scope out the median situation.

"A barricade like that does no good for keeping Romeros out," Erwin said, gesturing to the truck, which was only an inconvenience for someone using a car. "Whoever set this up, they were defending against other humans, not Romeros. Perhaps they know something we don't about the locals."

"They may _be_ the locals," Hanji muttered. "Cannibals, probably. It always turns out to be cannibals."

"Terminus ..." Levi whispered.

"Terminus," Hanji agreed.

"Terminus?" Erwin asked from the front seat.

"Terminus." Hanji said it as though it was the answer to a question. Erwin decided not to pursue the matter any further.

"Stop here and let me check the median," he said. They weren't getting around that truck on the outside shoulder, where the end of the trailer nudged up close to the trees. "Mikasa can cover me from humvee two."

Mikasa didn't bother radioing back. She popped out of the top of the humvee, sniper rifle in hand.

"Mikasa is in position," Armin informed them after a momentary pause. Erwin passed the radio sideways to Mike so he could communicate with the others.

"I won't be long," Erwin promised, though he closed the door behind him anyway to secure the humvee, briskly crossing in front of Mike and pulling his sidearm as he went. The machetes had been a brilliant idea, but if something were to suddenly lunge at him it was the M9 he trusted with his muscle memory.

Mikasa wasn't the only one watching Erwin. Mike's eyes were on him like a hawk, though he was unaware of the second pair watching from behind him. Levi shifted under his blanket, his eyes moving between Erwin and the truck as the commander weaved cautiously through the traffic towards the median.

The inside shoulder dropped off much too sharply to safely maneuver a humvee down. Erwin would hesitate to allow Mike to do it, much less three more vehicles. There was almost no way they wouldn't roll. The median was the only option unless they wanted to try towing the eighteen wheeler out of their way--something that would take at least two humvees to accomplish with the limited number of angles they had to work with.

"How's it look?" Mike asked from where he rolled down the window.

"Soggy," Erwin reported grimly, his feet squelching in the sickly grass. At the lowest drainage point, muddy water rose around his boots where they sank into the grass. "Somebody's tires are going to spin out in all this, especially trying to pull up the far side." He turned and started heading back for the humvee. "Tell them to start getting ready to tow. We'll need at least two lines on the front end, so humvee three will need room to operate as well. That means these cars," he gestured to a small cluster, then swept his hand to the side to indicate another section as well, "and these will all have to be moved. Some can be pushed by hand into the median if the keys are still in the ignition. Tell them to proceed cautiously. We don't know what might be under them."

Mike nodded and took up the radio. "We're going to have to tow it," he announced. "We need snipers at the ready. We're going to have to move the cars to the left, and we're going to see if we can roll some of them away by hand." A movement in the rearview caught his eye and by the time he looked back, Levi was already shutting the door behind him.

"I'm not that great a shot, but I'll go up top if you want to get out," Hanji offered, but Erwin was already opening the passenger door to climb up there himself. From the roof he would be able to coordinate the men below, keeping an eye on them from a higher vantage point and delivering instructions via the radio he took from Mike.

"Clear the area before you begin," Erwin instructed them, setting up the stand for his rifle so he could use the binoculars rather than the scope for keeping watch. He didn't immediately see any sign of movement from the field of automobiles around them, but that didn't mean there was nothing there. As if reading his mind, Hanji passed the binoculars up to him.

"Would it be alright if I got out to stretch my legs?" Hanji asked. "And it's also about time to use the toilet."

Erwin was busy adjusting the eyepieces on the binoculars and did not look down at Hanji, but he could sense the doctor right by his leg. "Once they've cleared the area I'll call Mike to stick with you. We won't be repeating what happened to John Kareem."

Hanji wrapped surprisingly strong fingers around Erwin's calf and squeezed, but they didn't say anything. Erwin preferred it. He wasn't thinking much about John Kareem just then. He'd pushed the boy to a safe, contained corner of his mind where all the ugliness went, where it was manageable and distant. The eyes that watched closely as his men fanned out slowly through the frozen traffic were alert and unclouded.

"Does Levi have a radio on him?" Erwin asked, noting that as they moved the group was beginning to disperse.

"Negative," Gunther replied after a moment.

"Pair up with him, then," Erwin instructed. "I don't want anyone out of radio contact."

"Roger that."

Levi didn't pay Gunther much mind. He was already sliding into an empty car and trying the ignition. It had no gas and the battery was on its last leg, but he managed to put the thing in neutral and climb out again.

"Steer," he said, finally addressing Gunther, who glanced up at Erwin before he traded places with Levi. As they heaved and grunted, Mike and Jean began hooking an SUV to tow. Auruo and Petra had teamed up to find other crankable cars and were having little luck.

"All clear," Sasha radioed in, giving a thumbs up in the company's general direction, and Eren repeated the sentiment only a moment later from the other direction.

"We're clear over here as well," Krista said, steadying Ymir as she stood from where she'd been peering under a car.

"I found a couple of Romeros in a black Hyundai over here," Nanaba said. "They're trying real hard to bite me through the windows, but they aren't going anywhere."

"I have a big one in the Tahoe," Jean said. "He's also secure."

"Leave them be," Erwin told them both. "We'll tow those." There was no sense in taking any unnecessary risks. "Okay Mike, come back for Hanji. They need to visit the facilities."

Scattered over the newly cleared area, several of the guys were doing just that, relieving themselves in the median or on the shoulder of the road. The trip had been long enough that few of them cared who saw who doing what kind of business.

"Dibs on the Cadillac," Ymir cackled, throwing the door open and ducking into the back seat. "I knew there was a reason I held off taking a shit."

Hanji climbed out of the humvee and stretched their body out with a couple of popping sounds that Erwin heard from the roof, locking their long fingers over their head and rolling their shoulders.

“Shit,” Levi said, having heard the cracking as he approached the humvee again. “I could walk on that for you.”

“Is that a legitimate offer?” Hanji asked, absolutely serious.

“Yeah, if you want to risk breaking it.”

“Please don’t risk it,” Erwin called drily from the roof.

Hanji raised a brow at Levi, though, their eyes skimming over him thoughtfully. “I don’t believe the risk would be all that great,” they decided. “I’m going to be honest, Levi. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but you are not large.”

Levi pursed his lips. “I’m heavy for my size. It’s all muscle. Ask him.” He jabbed a finger at Erwin, who had carried him plenty of times and would likely have taken note of how unpleasant it was.

Erwin shrugged. “I didn’t notice you being particularly heavy.”

“Now that the undead are rising and we’re back on the food chain, I’m having to watch my figure.”

“That shouldn’t be too challenging, considering what we’re feeding you.”

“It would be awfully difficult to gain weight off an MRE,” Hanji agreed, heading off with Mike to take care of their own business. Erwin aimed his binoculars ahead of them to watch for any sign of movement, slowly raking them along the treeline. Things had been remarkably quiet so far, discounting the Romeros still trapped in their cars. Mikasa’s blade cut the air neatly as a single Romero toddled out of the trees on the opposite side of the median and headed their way. She didn’t even bother advancing towards it, just stood there languidly until it was close enough and then took its head off cleanly, her machete flashing briefly. Even with a sharp blade, that was an impressive swing.

“Romero down from the left side,” she reported without any particular interest. “All clear.”

“Roger that,” Erwin said back. “Good arm.”

“Thank you, sir,” she replied with the same amount of excitement.

“How much noise is towing that thing going to make?” Levi asked as he climbed into the humvee and retrieved Erwin's coat to help with the cold still clinging to him. “When we tow it, I mean. There’s no telling what’s going to hear that.”

“It depends on how rough we are on the tires,” Erwin said. “They appear to still be intact, but we may shred them as we drag the cab sideways. I shouldn’t think they would wear all the way to the rims, but I’ve been wrong before.” He paused as a flash of movement from the corner of his eye drew his binoculars around to Eren, who had just taken down a second Romero.

“Another one down on the right,” Eren said.

Levi looked in Eren’s direction though he could not see the man for the vehicles between them. He chewed his lip and tugged the coat on. “Let’s get this over with,” he grumbled as he headed off to help connect cars to tow cables.

“Could I get a hand?” Jean said suddenly into the radio. Krista was the nearest, so she headed in his direction leisurely until he called in again. “ _Quickly_.”

She broke into a sprint then, hearing groans and growls, and came upon Jean very carefully dodging around a pack of three Romeros, stumbling after him in a tight knit group, one hard to pick off with one person.

“Shit!” she said, drawing a bit of the attention off of him as she whacked at one, giving Jean a little more of an opening to do some damage to a slowly rotting head.

Between the two of them they took the little pack out quickly, but there were obvious beads of sweat on Jean’s forehead. “Sorry,” he sighed. “They kinda snuck up on me.”

“Three and five, pair off and keep the area clear,” Erwin said quickly, his eyes finding the weak points in their loose formation. “Jean and Krista, move a little closer to the truck. Eren, Mikasa, fill in behind them. Humvee four, continue towing.” He gave a couple more instructions, repositioning Armin and Marco a little farther down the left. He was just getting ready to call Mike and Hanji back to the humvee when another small scuffle broke out along the right side, drawing his attention back to the small cluster that Eren and Mikasa were cutting down like wheat, stepping farther apart to avoid getting clipped by a machete and simultaneously loosening the group of Romeros. Armin came charging up with Marco to cover them, sliding neatly into the fray. Erwin didn't see all of what happened after that. A jerking motion drew his attention over to Armin, who sank his blade into one Romero only to lose his balance under the weight of a second. The commander took aim and fired off a single, silenced round, then Armin was dragging himself free as the Romero fell away.

“Ugh,” Eren moaned, reaching up to cover his nose as the last of the Romero’s fell under his machete. “Ugh, I cut into its intestines, Christ.”

“Marco . . .?” Armin said cautiously, lowering his own weapon and looking at the other man with clear concern on his face.

“Shit,” the freckled boy breathed, his eyes still wide and panicked as he looked down at the bodies lying strewn over the ground. “Shit, Armin, I-I’m sorry,” he said as he looked back up at Armin.

“No, it’s fine, I’m okay,” the blond insisted, and he seemed like he was going to elaborate, but Eren spoke faster and louder.

“What happened? Did you freeze?" His eyebrows pinched together in concern, but there was also anger rising in his face as his attention fell on the unbloodied blade in Marco's hands. "Did you almost get Armin killed?"

"Back off, Jaeger, he's been through hell," Jean called from farther up the row, where he and Krista still had a position to maintain.

Marco's eyes moved between the boys uncertainly, his brow creasing as he clearly tried to work out what was going on between Eren and Jean. They fought all the time, but no one had seen any real hostility between them since boot camp. "I'm sorry--"

"Armin, Marco, what are you doing?" Erwin called down to them. "Get back into position." Several more Romeros had just broken the trees on their unattended section of the perimeter and Ymir was barreling up with Sasha to cover the open section. Only, a couple more had just appeared behind them, headed for theirs. At Erwin's warning, they turned back just as the Romeros were stepping up onto the pavement, too close.

Eren and Mikasa hit their group of Romeros hard, each kicking the first down the steep shoulder to buy themselves time to take out the others. Erwin tracked them through his sight, ready to provide cover fire if things got out of hand, but Mikasa was tight and controlled, even with a weapon she had not been trained to use, and she actually managed to cover Eren in addition to herself. Still, that side was facing a small swell of Romeros, gradually increasing in number as they wandered from the woods and spotted them.

"Commander--" she began, but cut herself off to deal with a second small influx.

"Marco, Armin, cover Eren and Mikasa," he told them. "Jean and Krista, move a little closer to humvee one so you can cover their section." He didn't have time to watch Marco for signs of shell shock. He'd started shooting again, aiming bullets into the crowd forming at the edge of the trees. It was about time to pull back, he noted, finally forced to order Jean and Krista over to the right where most of the company was now engaged. They could reassess the situation from inside the humvees, but for the moment things were tipping against them. "Nanaba, detach any tow lines you have in place and provide cover fire from humvee four. Silenced rounds only."

"Roger that. We'll be a second unhitching."

"Do you have eyes on Mike and Hanji?"

Nanaba made an uncertain noise. Erwin was about to open his mouth and tell them where the two had been last when a strain of colorful cursing was suddenly cut off. Erwin took his eye off the scope in time to see Nanaba running at breakneck speed towards Erwin on the vacated left side, where Mike and Hanji had both been cut off from the group. Their line on the right was swamped, nearly ready to buckle even reinforced by the soldiers from the left and Erwin's quick, efficient cover fire. The left had been almost completely unattended.

The commander's eyes sought Levi, flashing over the mounting chaos as he realized he hadn't seen the dark headed man in a while. Then something hit his left bumper hard enough to rock the vehicle and Gunther called up, "Sorry, Commander! They're all over the damn place!"

Erwin did not turn his head to look at them, but he assumed Levi was still with him and called his name between shots. His line of fire to Hanji was blocked by unmoved traffic, so he was forced to turn his rifle back towards the struggling right side. "Hanji and Mike are farther up this side and they're cut off. Go help them get Hanji into humvee four. Gunther, help the others. Don't worry about this side."

“I see them!” Levi called back, already darting around the humvee to follow Nanaba, dodging incoming Romeros rather than taking them down in his rush to Hanji and Mike. Along the way, he snagged Petra and Auruo who were attempting to cut down as many as possible. “Auruo, with me. Petra, get a humvee.” It didn’t occur to him to be pleasantly surprised when they did as he said without hesitation. He turned then and froze in his tracks, his blood running cold as he saw arms scrambling over and through the cab of the eighteen wheeler, hands clawing at the pavement and pulling bodies out from underneath.

_“Shit.”_

“Levi!” Auruo called from where he had started hacking at and distracting Romeros on the opposite side of Nanaba, attempting to flank and divide them. He jumped in head on, and no sooner had he sunk his own machete into the fourth Romero than Petra plowed through a group of them headed straight towards Mike and Hanji, undeterred by the crunching and grinding of rotting bodies beneath.

Romeros were all over the humvee as soon as it ground to a stop, drawn to the noise and the movement and working themselves into a wild frenzy, climbing over each other as they sought a way into the vehicle. There was no way Hanji was getting into that humvee as it was. Erwin's eyes sorted through the scene before him, combing through the chaos in search of anyone else he could send to Hanji's aid. On the right, Eren's group was barely holding the Romeros still pouring from the trees. If they turned and disengaged, the Romeros would follow, making the situation worse over by humvee four.

His eyes caught on the end of his own rifle and lingered on the silencer.

"As soon as Hanji is secure, find cover in any vehicle you can," Erwin instructed, setting the radio down on the roof and reaching to unscrew the silencer. He had a few extra clips in his pockets, so he pulled those out, lining them quickly along the roof and swiveling the rifle around towards the back bumper of humvee four.

The first clip he emptied as quickly as possible, punching each round neatly through a Romero's head until the group started to turn for the sound. The ones immediately surrounding the humvee, who did not have eyes on a living human target, were more interested in the sound than the humvee that had gone still and quiet in their midst. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones. Romeros were coming from Eren's side as well, hitting the humvee like storm surge and rising as they climbed each other trying to get to him. The second clip went towards keeping them off the hood, but each fallen Romero added to the pile that the others could climb onto and when his weapon clicked uselessly in his hands, its second clip spent, Erwin didn't have enough time to change it. He pulled his sidearm and his utility knife and switched seamlessly to close range, alternating bullets and blade until he was empty.

"Assistant Commander! Captain!" he vaguely heard Armin shouting into the radio. "The Commander is swamped."

Mike turned and threw open the door, ushering Hanji inside quickly, though he closed the door behind the doctor and stayed out to help Nanaba and the others thin out the horde.

Erwin knew they must have gotten Hanji into the humvee because a few moments later someone was firing another rifle into the writhing mess that was working its way up the windshield. They were too late, though. Erwin barely had time to consider that he might not make it out of this alive before cold fingers closed around the back of his neck, trying to get a grip on him.

Erwin ducked automatically, yanking straight down on the arm that had him and hearing things pop faintly as the Romero scrabbled at him, trying to catch his hair as he went down through the roof. Unfortunately, that also meant he was no longer able to defend the open hole above him. A quick glance back informed him that there were Romeros all around him, pressing against the windows so completely that the humvee was actually going dark on the inside, light shifting eerily as they moved. He wouldn't be using any of the doors, then, and when they started coming down on top of him he figured that was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** See a full sized map over on [the blog.](http://attack-on-zombie.tumblr.com/tagged/maps)


	14. Man Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can't keep a good man down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about that cliffhanger, guys. Here, have 14 a day early. <3

A handful of the company saw Erwin disappear into humvee one with a stream of Romeros pushing in after him, but they could only watch the open hatch and hold their breaths for so long. They all had their own battles to fight, their own Romeros bearing down.

Petra threw her humvee into drive and plowed furiously into another onslaught, turned and swept another ten or so away before she slammed on the breaks just long enough for those nearby to take shelter inside.

Mike was the first one in, crawling over Hanji into the back to retrieve more guns and ammunition. He turned to find Levi following him, his expression anxious and grim.

Without even the slightest hesitation, Mike passed an automatic rifle to Levi. "Can you shoot?" Levi nodded and took it and Mike reached over to flip the safety off. "You're gonna give it back after this," he said as Levi opened the top hatch without a reply.

The cover fire was instant and frivolous, almost wasteful the way Levi sprayed bullets into the hoard with no regard to protecting the outside of the armored vehicle. He reached back, presumably for a clip, but Mike handed him a second gun instead and took the first to reload it for him. Mike made a note to lecture Levi later on the scarcity of bullets, but now was not the time. He was almost hopeful, seeing the way Levi mowed down the Romeros clambering over humvee one, but there was nothing they could do about the ones that had already gotten inside.

Someone had made it into humvee five and set it on a collision course for the Romeros clustered around Eren’s group. They slammed to a stop right at the edge of the median, knocking a handful back down the embankment, and someone tossed a grenade from the roof. “That was me,” Nanaba radioed a second later. “I’m picking up the kids from soccer practice. Mike, are you on the coms?”

“Do we have grenades in this vehicle as well?” Hanji asked at about the same time, but they were already climbing back to investigate the open ammunition crate for themselves.

Mike scowled but didn't deny it. Explosives were almost always a last resort because of the noise and the damage they did, but when Hanji unearthed the little egg-shaped bombs, he reached for one as well.

"Aim around that humvee," he said grimly. "If we're lucky, we can thin this out, clean out the bodies and reclaim it …" He passed the grenade to Levi before he ducked back in for the radio. "Is everyone in a humvee? What's the damage out there?"

"Our little group is accounted for," Ymir radioed back from one of the other vehicles. "Marco's not doing so hot."

"Bites?"

"Nah, just literal fuckin hysteria."

"Auruo," Mike heard Levi call in from the hatch. "Hand me a clip."

"Change it for him," Mike said quickly, and Auruo nodded, passing Levi another rifle and taking the empty one.

Hanji stood up with them as well, their hands filled with grenades and steadying their bony wrists on Levi’s shoulders. It was getting a little tight up there, but they didn’t make any apologies. Their eyes were on the humvee that Mike had indicated, calculating where best to throw the grenade. It was fairly straightforward, they assumed. The pin was obvious enough, anyway.

“Okay, it’s going,” they warned, pulling the tiny piece of metal free and letting the grenade fly as they ducked their head below the roofline and Levi pulled the hatch almost closed.

The sound was deafening. Shockwaves shook every soldier, doctor and hitchiker to their bones, rocked the humvees only milliseconds before the wet thumps of bloody parts and severed limbs pelted the sides of the vehicles like bullets.

When the hatch fell open again, Levi did a quick head count. One grenade had almost halved the number of living undead. Too little, too late, he thought as he pulled the pin on a second and tossed it right into a last remaining large cluster.

A little ways away, Nanaba was providing cover fire for Eren’s group from the roof of humvee five, slowly cleaning up the Romeros in that cluster as well. The incline helped. Once the group was more manageable, they ended up pushing most of them over and tossing another grenade into the mix, leaving them to wipe up the excess.

In all the excitement, Romeros had abandoned their attempts to climb into humvee one and broken away, dividing and thinning out as they fell over and into the piles of blown apart or bullet-riddled bodies.

Hanji was throwing the door open even before the last one fell, dodging Marco as he staggered from humvee five and lurched over the incline to puke violently into the grass. Jean was out right after him, of course, but Hanji barely looked at them, more interested in Nanaba and Mike and the orders they gave for cracking open humvee one.

Nothing in the vehicle stirred as Hanji approached it to peer into one of the filthy windows, but they couldn’t see much through the tinted glass and the mass of unmoving bodies packed inside.

"Levi, wait," Mike called as the man abandoned his rifle in favor of a machete and slipped out of the cover of the humvee, approaching the silent vehicle with little caution. "I said _wait_." Mike climbed out after him, radio still in hand. "Nana, you got eyes on the doctor?"

“Yeah, I got them.”

"Ah, jeez …" Sasha murmured as she wiped at the blood smeared across the windows, trying to get a better view of the carnage inside. As Levi pulled slumped, inert bodies from in front of the door, the girl gasped. "Wait, wait! I think I saw something move."

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Nanaba snapped, joining them on the pavement with another of the machetes. “There could be plenty of things moving in there.” They moved to the back door and lay their hand over the handle, glancing up grimly at Mike and Levi to see if they were ready for whatever came out. “Move around behind me, doctor.”

"Alright, here we go," Levi said when Hanji was a safe distance from the door and whatever may leap through it. Erwin’s soldiers were gathering with stony faces as though they were getting ready to plant a coffin into the ground, none of them speaking. They drifted close without crowding, keeping their distance respectful and their chins and shoulders low. The mood was stifling. "Open it up and let's get this over with."

Nanaba took a breath and flung the door open.

Absolutely nothing happened. The inside of the humvee was a gruesome tableau of stinking bodies, their limbs tangled and broken in ways that looked like something from a terrible abstract painting.

“Are you sure you saw movement?” Nanaba asked Sasha as the girl came quickly around the humvee to look.

“I swear,” she insisted, standing on her tiptoes to see around Nanaba’s shoulder. The blonde jabbed at a stray leg with the butt of their machete and when nothing happened they grabbed a fistfull of denim and pulled.

The Romero came around as quickly as an alligator with its tail in someone’s hand, jaw gaping. It snagged itself on the door as it turned, scrabbling for purchase against the frame, or else Nanaba’s day would have ended much differently. The whole scene unfolded in seconds, wrapping up with the sharp crack of gunfire.

“Sorry …” Sasha lowered her shaking weapon, her eyes large. “I just reacted.” But really, no further harm had been done. No further harm _could_ be done. They’d already rung the dinner bell with the grenades. Nanaba dismissed the lapse with a wave of their slim hand, yanking the creature roughly onto the pavement.

“Well that explains the movement you saw.” It hadn’t been clear until their tone deadened that Nanaba had been hoping with the rest of them. “Help me clear this out. We’ll want to reclaim the vehicle. Quickly.”

Connie opened the door on the opposite side and the soldiers set about their task with the grim efficiency of morticians, though their faces were more bleak, their lips tighter.

"You don't think we ought to just leave him there?" Krista asked over the radio, her voice betraying her fight against tears.

"We need the vehicle," Mike replied sternly. He wondered briefly if they should bury Erwin. They hadn't taken the time to do so for anyone else and they shouldn't now, but the thought of pulling their commander out and leaving him there was a terrible one. He stepped away from the door then and leaned against the humvee, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Levi joined him, reaching up to squeeze his shoulder.

As they pulled the Romeros out, they sank their blades into each head to ensure that they were truly inanimate, though many of them already had visible puncture wounds to the skull--undoubtedly originating from Erwin’s final efforts at survival. He’d done well. There weren’t many animate ones left. Only a few. He’d been so close.

“Got him,” Nanaba announced after a little while longer, stepping up into the humvee and leaning over the commander, bloody to the elbow and wielding their shorter utility knife rather than the machetes that most the others were using. “Mike, do you want to-- _Holy shit._ Erwin?!”

Mike and Levi both pushed off of the humvee exterior, looking curiously over at the door. Something in Nanaba’s voice dared rekindle a little hope.

"Oh my god!" Connie cried, calling loudly enough for the soldiers on the other side of the vehicle to hear. "He's alive!" He pulled a final body from the back seat. “

"Holy shit," Petra coughed, still crying and obviously had been for a while. "Is he okay? Was he bitten?"

Mike circled around the door again and gently held the excited crowd back. "Woah now, back up, back, back, back," he said, unable to contain his own joy.

Nanaba had the commander by his bloody forearms as by some mutual effort they pulled him out of the vehicle. "Were you bitten?" They repeated Petra's question, holding their own excitement until they knew.

"I don't know," Erwin told them breathlessly, his hands flying to the hem of his uniform shirt to pull it quickly over his head. "They were on me, but I'm not sure if they broke skin." He didn't stop at his shirt, either, peeling off the torn, filthy undershirt and shucking out of his pants without any hesitation. He looked as though he’d been hit by a freight train, swaying as though he might fall over, barely catching enough breath to speak.

Mike inspected him as best he could. A lot of blood had been been flung onto him, but Mike didn't find anything open or resembling a bite. "You've got some red marks," he said finally. "They're gonna bruise, but you'll live."

The company broke out into excited questions and cheers and, in some cases, outright sobbing. Auruo approached Levi, grinning ear to ear, and raised his hand high. After a second of thought, Levi half smiled and high-fived him.

"How did you manage that?" Eren asked excitedly. "They were right on top of you!"

“Give the man a second to breathe.” Nanaba caught the exuberant boy across the chest with a quick arm before he could crowd in on the commander, wearing their sternest officer’s scowl. “He was nearly crushed.”

"I thought I was," Erwin replied, quickly checking beneath the hem of his underwear and motioning for Mike to do the same behind him. "They accumulated as I killed them and the others couldn’t get teeth into me." He looked like the exhaustion was catching up to him, too. It was heavy in his voice despite the cautious optimism there. He was using the side of the humvee for support, rubbing his chest. He hadn’t stopped taking deep breaths since he staggered out of the vehicle. "Is everyone accounted for?" He asked, looking around them as though mentally counting. "Were there any bites?"

"None, thanks to you," Mike replied as he checked him over again. "You're cold enough to be dead though, damn. Alright, everyone back to work, we need to get turned around ASAP."

The soldiers were slow to disperse disperse, still chattering amongst themselves about the apparent miracle. When they'd thinned out enough that Levi wouldn't have to fight anyone to get to the commander, he slipped the coat off of his shoulders, noting that it was the one that Erwin had given him the night before. He draped it over Erwin's shoulders then and climbed past him into the humvee in search of clean clothes.

"You're a fucking lunatic."

"Thank you." Though Erwin supposed it was his own coat Levi had given him. He was reluctant to put his arms through the sleeves, filthy as he was. He bent slowly to retrieve his undershirt from the pavement where he'd dropped it, turning it inside out so he could wipe his face and chest. It didn't go very far. Erwin glanced around the corner of the vehicle where Hanji was crouched on the road with the Romeros, frowning thoughtfully as they turned each body to inspect the backs of their necks, pushing eyelids apart to look at corneas. The doctor was out of earshot and safely preoccupied.

"It isn’t madness. Delivering Hanji safely to the Sina is more important than any of our lives," Erwin said, watching Levi work his way through the crate for something in Erwin's size. "I’d have expected any of my men to do the same.”

"You don't give yourself enough credit. You're probably the only one that ready to die," Levi said as he finally emerged with an armful of clothes. "Here, I got an undershirt and pants but you're gonna need a bath... I really thought you were dead for a minute there. You should have seen Mike."

"To be fair," Mike said quickly, "I trained with this asshole."

Erwin took the items with a nod of thanks and began climbing into them, wincing all the way. "I thought I was dead too. Until just now I thought for sure there was no way I hadn't been bitten."

"You had a literal meat shield," Nanaba snorted. "You didn't look so hot yourself, Shorty. I thought we were going to have to zip tie you to the humvee to keep you from charging over here."

"My cigarettes are in here," Levi replied quickly, reaching around Erwin again to dig through his duffle, now covered in even more blood.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hanji called over, glaring daggers at the man as he pulled the cigarettes from his bag. "I look away for three minutes and you’re already doing medically inadvisable! You're recovering from hypothermia, you ninny!"

Levi snorted and slipped a cigarette from the carton, pulling a lighter from his back pocket. "One isn't going to hurt anything any more than it's already hurt."

“As the closest thing you have right now to a doctor, I feel that it is my responsibility to inform you that in my opinion as a scientist and a rational person in general, this is not a wise course of action.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t take the Hippocratic Oath then, isn’t it?” Nanaba quipped. “Technically, your hands are clean.”

Hanji opened their mouth to reply, but Erwin touched their shoulder lightly as he slid by them to access the passenger door. “We have plenty of blankets, Doctor,” he said, though he didn’t move to try and get in. His eyes were trained on the slight tremor in Levi’s hands as he lit up. “Finish that before you get into the humvee,” was all he said about it. “I don’t think we’ll be able to endure the scent of cigarette smoke on top of decaying organic matter.”

“I got some of it, Commander,” Krista called pleasantly from the back seat. “I used a little water from the median and your discarded uniform shirt to wipe everything down.”

“I’m still glad I’m not riding with you guys,” Ymir added honestly from the other side of the vehicle, speaking across the open back.

“I appreciate the effort,” Erwin tried. Honestly, Krista hadn’t put much of a dent in the mess, but more thorough cleaning wouldn’t be possible until they found somewhere to stop.     

“Wait,” Levi said, blowing out smoke as he spoke. He headed for the back of the humvee and popped the door open, keeping his cigarette pressed between his lips as he dug through one of the crates. He emerged with a tarp and dragged it back up to the front, where he draped it across Erwin’s seat. “It’s not comfortable at all,” he said, tapping his cigarette to knock off the ashes, “but it’ll do until you can get a bath. I know from experience.”

One corner of Erwin’s mouth quirked up at the seriousness of Levi’s delivery. “Honestly, the humvee is so wrecked that a little more blood wouldn’t make cleaning up any more difficult.” But he stepped up into the humvee and settled onto the crinkly plastic anyway. Levi had gone to the trouble.

“You better tuck it up behind his head, Levi,” Hanji cackled. “He’s going to have dreadlocks when he dries out.”

Levi looked between them, lips pursed. “On second thought, does anyone have any vacancies? Banana, want to trade vehicles?”

“Not on your fuckin’ life.”

“Aw, come on, Levi, you don’t like our company enough to get dirty for it?” Mike chuckled, nudging him playfully with his elbow, which very easily reached Levi’s shoulder and could just as easily have hit the side of his head.

“Sorry, no.” Levi was shocked to see how fast this smoke was going, how often and deeply he was inhaling it. Had he really been that shaken? He dropped the butt onto the asphalt and tapped it with his boot.

“Have you looked at yourself, though?” Hanji asked him, gesturing to Levi’s own liberally coated form. “I’m going to be honest here, Levi. You may want a tarp for your own ass.”

“He can sit on the floorboard,” Erwin amended. Their high spirits were slipping through his exhaustion like hot knives through butter, the mood catching. He reached for the radio over his head as Krista hopped out of their vehicle, trying to keep her laughter quiet, and started radioing humvees for status reports. “Are any of the vehicles too damaged to move from the area?”

“I think one and five are the only ones who really took much of anything,” Armin replied over the radio. “Three is fine, apart from … well, parts of the Romeros that Petra ran over.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Petra sighed, looking back at the humvee, filthier now on the outside than any of them had ever been. “We should check underneath and make sure nothing got caught up.”

“Well, let’s do it fast,” Levi grumbled, though he didn’t move to do it himself. “All that noise is bound to draw something.”

Nanaba sighed. “I guess the party’s over for now. I’ll go see to the kids. Bye, Cutie.” The last was for Mike.

“See you, Honeybunch.”

“All of you set someone on the roof,” Erwin told them. “Ymir will check beneath the vehicles, but everyone else stay inside. At the first sign of trouble, pull her back in.” Erwin turned, but his attention was on the floorboard and the platform rather than either of the passengers who were settling themselves in the back. “Do either of you happen to see a rifle back there? I thought I saw it fall with some of the Romeros.”

“Yep,” Mike declared, pulling the rifle from where it had fallen. “Got it. The safety is still off. Tsk tsk.”

“You’re really disappointed?” Levi asked, the sarcasm very clear in his tone. “I thought it was your job to handle the safety on everyone’s firearms. Why else would you have turned off mine?”

“I wasn’t convinced that you were familiar with military-grade assault rifles, that’s all. Was I wrong?”

“Is the safety really that different from firearm to firearm that someone couldn’t have figured it out?”

“Maybe not,” Mike conceded, climbing into the driver’s seat which was much cleaner than the others. “But I think you could do with a crash course on our weapons before we get stuck in a situation like that again. Even if you did okay.”

"I'll get him started when we stop next," Erwin said by way of agreement, taking the new clip Hanji passed him and standing as he changed it. "We've already been here too long."

A small group of Romeros was approaching from around the back end of the eighteen wheeler, but they were far enough away that putting them down would have been a waste. "Romeros at two hundred yards," he called back to Ymir and Petra. "Pick it up."

"Roger that, Sir!" Petra chirped agreeably. "Ymir says everything looks squared away but we won't know until we start moving."

"Then let's find out," Mike replied as he turned on the windshield wipers and sprayed the cleaner in an attempt to clean away some of the gore covering the humvee. By the time he finished, Ymir radioed in.

"All clear, sir."

Mike turned to look at Erwin then. "I don't know about you, but this whole truck business worries me. Should we keep taking this route back?"

"If we don't, we'll miss the deadline by too wide a margin," Erwin said. "The Sina may go ahead and leave for the Gulf."

"The Gulf of what? Mexico?" Hanji asked. "That strikes me as a terrible place to park a ship. You get hurricanes along your southern coastline, don't you?"

"They're talking about looking for a habitable island," Erwin said, though his mind wasn't on the Sina right then so much as getting there alive. "We'll have to backtrack to the previous exit and loop around using back roads like we did with Buffalo," Erwin told Mike.

“Last exit was Farmington,” Hanji supplied. “Sounds cute, doesn’t it?”  

“We’ll get to see for ourselves.” Erwin traced a circle in the air with his index finger, signalling for Mike to get going. “Let’s move.”

Mike nodded silently and cut the wheel to turn. Unsure of whether there was room for the entire convoy to maneuver around one another, he picked up the radio again with a sigh. "Turn around and head back to Farmington. We'll worry about vehicle order then."

It took several minutes for each of the humvees to make a complete turn - particularly with Auruo driving - but the few miles until the next exit passed quickly and without incident.

“We will need to resupply here if circumstances allow,” Erwin stated. “A wash also wouldn't be out of the question if we find a place that could work."

"I'd celebrate the discovery of a bird bath at this point," Hanji agreed.

“I agree.” Erwin turned his head, wrinkling his nose at the crinkle of plastic. "Had you fought like that before, Doctor? I saw you defending yourself pretty adeptly." And it had nearly stopped his heart, too. Romeros shouldn't have been allowed to get that close to Hanji.

But the scientist simply shrugged. "That was the closest I came to an animate one without any barrier involved," the said, "but I've watched you all and swinging a machete is pretty straightforward. I expected the neck to be difficult to cut through from the dissections I've done, so it didn't catch me off guard and I knew to put all the strength I had into my swing. Actually,” they said, leaning eagerly around Erwin’s seat. “I was able to confirm that damage to the back of the neck is an effective method of taking a Romero down. It only worked from the back, not the front, and it had to be deep enough to sever the spinal cord. It means that signals are definitely being sent through a living nervous system!”

"You were able to experiment in the middle of a fight for your life?" Erwin asked, amazed in spite of his concern.

"I've been wanting to try that since I examined the Romeros that were bitten into. I was pleasantly surprised to have an opportunity so soon."

"It's definitely a parasite?" Levi asked with a little interest. "Shit, I always thought it was a virus. Maybe a fungus. Wait, fungi are parasitic, right?"

"The most common fungi are saprophytic, actually," Hanji corrected. "They feed on decaying organic matter. There are also symbiotic fungi. Lichens, for example, involve the mutualistic pairing of fungi with unicellular algae. There _are_ parasitic fungi, but Romeros exhibit a notable absence of any kind of fruiting body either on the inside or the outside. I had the opportunity to perform autopsies on several early victims and we didn’t find any sign of fungal infection, though the Romeros had been dead for quite some time at that point and put on ice for transport." Hanji made a face over that. "Crude. To get a better understanding of their physiology, I will need a Romero that is either still animate or freshly put down. The corpses I received for autopsy had been dead for some time.”

“And these autopsies ruled out viruses?” Erwin asked.

“Not exactly. I sent samples to my lab in Germany, but results never made it back to me. I can only make logical guesses until I run samples through another laboratory, but I can’t imagine this being viral at this point. Viruses are also too problematic because they require living cells to replicate. Once a Romero dies, it should not be capable of walking around for as long as they do. Once cell replication ceases, viruses begin to die very quickly. Some can survive for days, but that is a maximum. HIV, for example, begins to die only minutes after leaving its host.”

“It wouldn’t benefit a parasite to kill its host either, would it?” Erwin asked. “Wouldn’t it be more useful if it was alive?”

“In most cases, yes,” Hanji agreed. “This is a very strange occurrence no matter what theoretical track you take. It seems that this creature’s pattern of infection involves transmission via body fluids, through which I believe its larval or cystic stage is transmitted. Bites are confirmed vehicles of infection, however I wouldn’t rule out blood-to-blood contact either, or mucous membranes like the eyes and inside of the nose. From there it would move through the body to the brain and it’s sophisticated enough that the immune system obviously poses very little threat. White cell count skyrockets in bite victims before they are killed, and fever also indicates that the body is fighting, but so far we have not isolated a single case where someone has survived, meaning the immune system, even with external help from immune system boosting drugs, is not putting up much of a fight. At that point, it normally wouldn’t make any kind of sense for a parasite to kill its host, but in this case death is obviously not a barrier to reproduction. If it can get into the brain, I believe it may be capable of putting parts of it on life support, so to speak, keeping them alive as other portions of the body decay around it. If it can manage to feed small amounts of oxygen to select parts of the brain, like the areas that control motor function and sensory input, it should be able to utilize those parts. I thought at first that most of the host was dead, but perhaps they exhibit rudimentary function on a full-body level.”

“That sounds an awful lot like science fiction,” Erwin said honestly.

“A lot like bullshit to me,” Levi grumbled.

“It does,” Hanji agreed. “And that bothers me. Something like this is highly implausible, particularly to have sprung seemingly from nowhere in such an advanced form. Normally you see precursors, simpler organisms adapting into more complex ones, but this is like the computer preceding the difference engine. I’ve never been a conspiracy theorist, but I’ve wondered.”

Mike turned to give Hanji a brief glance before he turned his eyes back to the road. “You think someone manufactured this?” he asked, incredulous. “Who in their right mind would create something like this and set it loose?”

Levi grunted thoughtfully. “Does sound crazy, but if we humor it, there are a few powers out there that would have the brainpower, the funds, and the know-how to skirt around anyone sniffing around. A couple of governments, the WHO, the CDC …”

“Okay, fine, but who would be stupid enough to sic it on the entire world?”

“Not stupid,” Levi snorted. “Crazy. I had an uncle that thought like that. Something about population control.”

“I knew people who thought that way as well,” Hanji agreed. “In a theoretical sense, they would argue that artificial population control made sense if you didn’t mind abandoning your humanity, though I always argued that all morality aside, it would introduce too much fear and resentment into a population for it to ever be truly effective. And the problem with your WHO theory, Levi, is that anyone smart enough to develop a bioweapon of this caliber would also have the resources and the knowledge to know better than to intentionally release it. Their computer models would have suggested desolation on this scale even if they couldn’t have imagined it themselves. And before you suggest an accident,” they added quickly, seeing Erwin’s mouth open, “these places are maintained with more care than nuclear reactors. There are failsafes on top of fail safes. If you want a real world example, the failsafes on nuclear facilities are like condoms. Laboratories dealing with organisms this dangerous have failsafes that are more like a combination of condoms with birth control and a spermicidal lubricant. It’s possible that something could escape, but the odds are so astronomical that you couldn’t calculate them on the average calculator because the screen isn’t long enough to accommodate all the numbers.”

Although he turned his head and tried to hide it, Levi snorted. Not one of his trademark irritated snorts, but something of a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Mike asked suspiciously.

“Spermicidal lubricant,” Levi replied, his voice controlled. “I didn’t even know that was a word.”

“Which one?” Mike asked with a self-satisfied smirk. “Spermicidal? Or lubricant?”

“Take a wild guess, jackass.”

“Lubricant,” Hanji cackled.

Levi rolled his eyes and sighed. “You hit the nail on the head, Shit Glasses,” he said, still smiling even as he leaned back and looked out the window. Not a soul in that vehicle could have claimed with absolute confidence that the man was joking.


	15. Birdbath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi sees a puddy tat.

"Farmington ..." Ymir read the sign in approximately the same tone as others might use to describe someone else's battle with genital herpes. "Population ... 11,825."

"They may want to recount that," Nanaba disagreed, swerving just slightly to clip a passing Romero with the corner of their bumper. "Sign is outdated."

"Personally, I don't have a problem with that," Erwin said, his eyes lingering on the river with interest. "Twelve thousand is more rounds than I'd want to use." The town was like an idealized, picture book Autumn, complete with a field of pumpkins ripening on the vine and glossy, well-fed crows perching fearlessly on the shoulders of weathered scarecrows. It didn't look like the end of the world had made it here yet, or that Farmington had been remembered in any case. Untouched houses were all dressed up for the end of the month, yards filled with inflatable witches and plastic skeletons, walkways lined with fake candles or brown paper bags with jagged, grinning faces cut into them. Porches were strung with fake webbing and caution tape and clusters of jack o'lanterns that looked like they had just been carved. And if the town seemed a little empty, that could easily be blamed on its size.

"Well that's creepy as fuck," Nanaba muttered into the radio. "It's a literal ghost town."

"It's strange to think that at the beginning of this month everything was still proceeding as normal," Hanji said.

“Yeah, it all went to shit up here in the northeast so fast,” Levi said quietly, still staring out at the pumpkin patch, where the vegetables were undoubtedly rotting on the bottom, sinking back into the earth as though to replace the corpses it ached for. “Population density, probably. Heard Atlanta got hit real hard, too.” His voice was more than a little forlorn, and for someone usually so grounded and blunt, it set off the alarm bells.

“Something up, Levi?” Mike asked, turning to glance at the smaller man. “You don’t sound so hot.”

“Yeah, I could do with a smoke,” Levi admitted, but after a second of thought, he added, “I think Marco's right about those smart Romeros. It sounded like some crazy shit to me, but to be honest, this whole situation is crazy and . . . man, Erwin, some of those coming after you were pretty light on their feet.”

"I honestly didn't see," Erwin replied. They'd been coming at him so fast that all he'd been doing was zeroing in on heads.

"I didn't either," Hanji added unhappily. "Perhaps the parasite is evolving. If each infected human represents one generation of this creature, then it's already had thousands of generations to mutate.”

"We can open the roof and you could smoke up there, Levi," Erwin offered, and even Hanji had nothing to say in protest.

“I might take you up on that when I’m not concerned about how quiet it is around here,” Levi murmured. He leaned up then to stare out of the windshield as they continued into the little town. “This could mean a lot of things. All the Romeros have moved out for open season, they’re all stuck in their homes or hiding out, or some fucked up Woodbury shit. I don’t want to poke my head out for a smoke and have some hillbilly survivalist blow it off.”

"Oh, I was going to use you as our canary," Erwin teased.

"Wow."

"I've spotted a sort of loose pattern," Hanji spoke up again as the two of them exchanged artificial glowers. "Correlation does not equal causation, of course, but have you noticed that all of the Romeros in this region seem to be heading north and west? I'm not prepared to draw any conclusions from that little bit alone, but if we are indeed seeing a true migration pattern rather than aimless wandering, why not go south where the winter is less likely to stiffen the corpses? Just an oddity I've been mulling over."

"Because they're dumb as fuck," Levi replied. "I doubt a bunch of corpses are paying attention to their chances of survival. Maybe they're wandering towards sounds or smells. Who knows?"

"No one, yet," Hanji grinned.

"Mike," Erwin said suddenly, leaning forward to see around the larger man. "That looks like a community pool." He'd almost missed it in all the conversation.

Mike sat up straighter, bent his head to look around Erwin. "Oh my god. Holy shit, it's got a cover on it. You think it's clean?"

"Clean my ass," Levi snorted, but even he couldn't hide his interest, looking out the window and at the little gated pool just inside a little neighborhood park. "That shit is probably pumped so full of chlorine that poor blondie will be walking around looking like Old Greg for a week."

"Which blondie?" Mike asked as he turned in. "There are a lot of us, and I doubt a single one cares."

"We'd be cleaner than we have been in weeks," Erwin agreed. "Assuming the cover is completely in tact."

"The way our luck's been going it's probably full of Romeros," Hanji sighed, but they, too, seemed excited by the prospect of a bath.

"If so, maybe they'll be in the deep end," Erwin attempted to joke. If there were bodies in the water it would, of course, be unsuitable to bathe in, but the giddy rush of a near miss and an excellent windfall in the personal hygiene department made Erwin's tongue a little looser than it had been since John Kareem.

"We can use them as floaties," Levi added. "That cover looks pretty tight ..."

"There's only one way to find out," Erwin said, gesturing them forward.

"Alright folks," Mike announced into the radio, "don't get your hopes up, but if this pool is body fluid free, we're all going to smell a little bit less like death. Snipers out and let's set up a perimeter."

"Oh, hell yes," Levi sighed in a breath betraying nothing but pleasure. "No tick checks this time?"

"We might want to check you again just to be safe," Erwin informed him with a perfectly straight face.

"If anybody needs to be checked, it's you." Levi flopped back against his seat and folded his arms. "You just cuddled up to half of the enemy invasion in a closed space."

"All joking aside, he does have a point, Erwin," Hanji said seriously. "If those Romeros were carrying any ectoparasites, you were likely the warmest, most attractive body in there."

“Yeah, Commander. Bend and cough."

"I said _ecto_ parasites, Levi," Hanji insisted.

The commander cracked the humvee door the minute he saw the last sniper give the thumbs up to signal their readiness. "I'm going to bathe before anybody looks in my ass if you don't mind. Levi, with me. I'll need my canary close by."

Levi hopped out of the humvee readily, though he didn’t do so without a machete and the automatic rifle slung over his back. Mike technically hadn’t taken it back, and the longer he could get away with having it, the happier he would be. “Call me canary again and I’m going to start singing, and you aren’t going to like it,” he said, though the threat was empty.

"What songs do you know?" Erwin asked, leading the way to the ornate, chest-high gate. It wouldn't keep anyone out who really wanted in, but the commander supposed it wasn't intended to be a high security prison yard. The worst they had to worry with was kids swimming without a lifeguard on duty. Erwin reached through and flipped the latch with no trouble.

“Too many to sit here and list to you. Most in English, some in French, one in Italian …” He shrugged and followed Erwin through the gate, his eyes on the prize - the undamaged, taut plastic covering over the large pool. “You’re going to have to bathe last.”

"I'll rinse off in the children's pool before I join the rest of you," Erwin compromised, gesturing for Levi to follow him over to the small pool house that contained a simple set of restrooms. "When we go to open a door we take it in pairs," he instructed. "Likely you've noticed that for yourself, that one person opens the door while the other stands by with a weapon ready. I'll open the door ... since you look ready to defend us," he said, sweeping a pointed eye down Levi's small body where it stood there bristling with more sharp edges than a pissed off hedgehog.

"Always ready to serve, Sir. Semper Fi and all that," Levi snorted, standing just to the side of the main bathroom door.

"You realize that's the Marine Corps?" Erwin asked blandly, reaching for the knob and laying his hand over it, though he glanced up at Levi before turning it to verify that he was ready.

Levi nodded. If he was bristled before, he was in full attack mode now, grip tight around the machete. "You all have the same boss at the end of the day."

"He doesn't say Semper Fi either," Erwin said, his tone amused.

With an impatient sigh, Levi nodded his understanding. “While I appreciate the military trivia, you’re standing between me and a bath.”

"If you want to go ahead and jump in I wouldn't stop you," Erwin promised, still teasing. "Tweet, tweet." And then he turned the handle, giving Levi a second to register that before he flung the door open.

Levi rolled his eyes and peered into the bathroom, a bit dark without the electricity, but otherwise quiet and empty, all the stall doors standing fully open. “No Romeros, but I’m sensing some serious deadly gas buildup, so _vamos_. Tweet tweet, motherfucker.”

"I knew I brought you with me for a reason, Tweety." Erwin quipped, backing out of the small room and pulling the door shut behind him.

Levi was already at the door to the ladies’ room. “Let’s go, Sylvester.”

Erwin did laugh quietly then, sliding quickly into place at the door. But when he glanced up at Levi to verify his readiness, his expression was serious. Levi nodded and waited, again ready to pounce, but was again met with an empty bathroom.

“Shit,” he chuckled, “I never thought I would be grateful for something so boring. Now, let’s check out the chlorine trap.”

The tarp was stretched tight across the pool, its metal rings fastened so securely to the pegs that it took Levi more than one try to pop a few of them off, but with each loosened edge it got easier. He set his machete aside and pulled the corner up to peer under and, after a moment, he stuck a hand in. When he withdrew it, it was dripping.

“It’s cold as Satan’s toenails, but I didn’t see anything moving.”

"After Niagara it should be a piece of cake;" Erwin said, his sidearm out and ready for anything that lunged from the strong, chemical darkness to go after Levi. "Here, hand me your machete."

Levi reached behind him to pick up the weapon and offered it up to Erwin. "Fair enough, but remember what the doctor said. I'm going to be extremely sensitive to cold, so I get a free pass to be a little bitch about it."

"I'll let the company know to expect it," Erwin promised, raising the machete and thrusting it down into the tarp to simply cut it free.

Levi stared at the tarp as it billowed and sank into the water. "Well, hell. I'm glad there was nothing in there," he said pointedly. He pulled at the edges that Erwin had cut, ripping the thin plastic and finally revealing the water, more or less as clean as it would have been had the world not ended.

Erwin only shrugged. "I figured if there was, it'd get hung in the tarp." He was walking around the pool as Levi dragged the severed tarp fromthe water. As the plastic drew back and the shadow lifted, it became clear that the pool was completely untouched. There weren't even any dead bugs floating on the surface. He strode over to the children's pool then, which was similarly covered, and sliced that one open like the safety seal on a container of mixed fruit. On finding that pool pristine as well, Erwin signaled to Mikasa, who'd been watching through her scope in case she needed to cover them.

"I'm going to go grab that shampoo," Levi said as he deposited the tarp off to the side and jogged back to the humvee.

"You can leave the gun in here," Mike said sternly as he opened the door, but Levi was already setting it on the platform and slipping his hoodie off before he dug through his duffle.

"The pool is great. Cold as fuck, but clean. Not so much as a fucking mosquito hawk in it," he said excitedly as he pulled a bottle of shampoo and a carton of cigarettes out. "There were towels on the bench between the bathrooms. We'll have to share, but it's better than nothing." He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it quickly before he turned and hurried back to the pool, falling in behind Petra and Auruo, who were continuing some discussion he hadn't heard the beginning of.

"I'm telling you, Auruo, it was too early. There's no way people would have been stocking up."

"I dunno, Petra. I started collecting bags of candy nearly a month in advance," Eld said with a shrug.

"That doesn't make any _sense_ ," Petra insisted. "It all goes on sale in October, why would you buy it in September?"

"I had a big neighborhood. It was kind of a big deal and everywhere nearby would sell out in October."

"You know what will be strange?" Gunther asked them, loading an M9 as he walked. "If we have to come out here again, everything will still be decorated for Halloween."

"Can't avoid that, I'm afraid!" Hanji said cheerfully, slipping around Eld to drop a casual arm across Levi's shoulders. "Not when everyone will always be dressed for it. Halloween is our new baseline."

"Shit, I've always hated Halloween," Levi said, irked with the touching though he made no move to slip away from Hanji. "I wish it had been something like the Fourth of July. Alcohol and fireworks abound."

"Fireworks might have been an excellent diversion were it possible to get them at an angle ..."

Erwin wasn't by the children's pool where Levi had left him. Though his scalp itched abominably and his skin flaked with dried blood, the commander was over by the fence, simultaneously conversing their restocking options with Mike and Nanaba and issuing perimeter commands to the four who would be staying with the humvees until they traded off to bathe. As Levi and the others passed through the gate, Erwin gestured for them to go ahead, that the perimeter was secure.

"It's so empty," Mike commented as Levi stripped shamelessly down to nothing out of the corner of his eye before slipping into the pool and putting out his cigarette on the concrete beside them, abandoning a whole half in favor of a bath. "It should be suspicious, but if there aren't any Romeros around we may as well search the houses. If you think we have the time. There's also a little mom-and-pop place down the street there that we could check out."

"It will be close to nightfall by the time we bathe and restock," Erwin answered, his eyes finding Levi's bare back as the other man lowered himself into the pool, one dark wing spreading as he reached up to run a wet hand through his hair before he dove under. Even from here, there was no denying that his tattoo artist had done very good work. "We would do best to return here to sleep." There was a grassy area attached to the pool via a second, shorter gate with playground equipment and a water fountain. All three sides--not including the bathrooms--boasted a thick hedge growing through the fence. With humvees on every side, it would be the most secure they could be and still be outdoors.

Mike followed Erwin's eyes and snorted, but he didn't comment. "Yeah, and with the lack of any signs of life or afterlife out here we could possibly light a fire, too. Especially if we find some Jiffy Pop or s'mores stuff. Sasha would probably shit herself."

Erwin smiled faintly. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he said. "I want a closer look at the terrain before I commit to any bright lights."

Mike smiled back and nodded. "Fair. Let's get the process rolling then. I think this is the first time you have been the filthiest person in the company."

"And hopefully it will be the last. I'll take humvee one. Nanaba, Mike, relieve Ymir and Sasha for now."

Nanaba moaned pitifully, but moved to do as Erwin said.

Mike chuckled as he followed Nanaba out, elbowing them lightly. "Looks like we have plenty of time to get dirty."

"How are we supposed to do that in different vehicles?" They kept their voice down, but not low enough for Erwin to miss the exchange. "We can't even sext anymore," he could clearly hear them complain. "I miss sexting."

“You don’t have to. We can set our radios to a different channel.”

Nanaba froze.

"My god. You're right."

"I trust you'll hold these activities until after hours?" Erwin asked smoothly, raising his voice just a little to call after them. "And when neither of you is on watch?"

“If you wanted in, Erwin, all you had to do was say so,” Mike teased. “But it looked to me like you had your eyes on someone else.” He patted Nanaba's shoulder and turned to head back towards the humvees.

For a moment, Erwin honestly had no idea what Mike was implying, and he frowned uncomprehendingly at the man until it occurred to him who Mike was referring to. "I'm realizing a long-buried appreciation for a well-inked tattoo." His eyes returned, though, to the subject of their conversation, whose shoulder blades rolled fetchingly beneath the ink in question. Unlike his attention in the Academy store room, Erwin found that his interest was not impersonal. There was nothing clinical about the way his eyes followed a sudsy trail of white shampoo as it slithered down Levi's spine and hit the water at his lower back. His face betrayed nothing of his interest in the dark blur beneath the rippling surface that would be the rest of him under there somewhere.

Huh.

As Sasha and Krista began stripping down, unlike Connie, Jean, and Ymir, Levi turned, his fingers still digging into his scalp like a little more shampoo might actually make a difference, but his fingers stilled when he caught Erwin’s stare. He raised an eyebrow and turned again, though he looked over his shoulder to maintain eye contact.

“You're practically drooling, Sylvester. See something delicious?”

Erwin glanced over Levi’s shoulder at his soldiers, who all seemed preoccupied with their own concerns. “Nothing that Granny would want me to have,” he retorted, though he paused. “I was actually just getting a longer look at your wings. I only had a short glimpse of them when you were yowling over the tick and after that we were recovering from hypothermia.”

“The wings cost me an arm and a leg. Literally. Mine are prosthetics.”

Since his legs were concealed beneath the water, Erwin’s eyes drifted down one of the small, but muscular arms, following the curve of a bicep down to the elbow. “And what did you pay for those with?” the commander asked. “A kidney?”

"Two," Levi replied. After a pause, he shrugged. "Someone else's."

“Hopefully not harvested from the same person,” Erwin said, climbing up into the humvee and going to set up his own weapon on the roof.

"Yeah, and I sold the rest of him, too." Levi cupped water into his hands and began washing away the suds. "His heart paid my child support for three months."

"You have children, Levi?" Petra asked from across the pool, evidently coming in part-way through the conversation. Her eyes were wide, obviously trying to imagine what kind of a father Levi might have been. "I guess I didn't realize that you had that much interest in women."

"You touched someone long enough to impregnate them?" Ymir added with a whistle. Krista smacked her subtly under the water, but she continued anyway. "Goddamn, it must have been serious."

"Tch," Levi snorted. "I am distinctly not interested in any of that. And no, I don't have any kids. In this economy? It just isn't responsible. And I've never sold a whole body, either. That's just fucked up. I always leave something to bury," he added with a wink at Petra.

"I can't even tell if he's joking or not," Eld muttered.

"He's joking." But Gunther's voice lacked absolute conviction.

Erwin's attention had turned to their surroundings, but humvee one was close enough to the pool that he could hear the majority of what was going on. He listened with half an ear, his lips faintly smiling.

"Of course not," Levi replied with a straight face. "Internal organs have always been lucrative, but with the rise of diabetes and alcoholism in the American youth, kidneys and livers are in very high demand. Speaking of high, heroin fucks your heart right up. You know how much a heart is a pop?" He paused and looked around at all of the dumbfounded and downright frightened faces before he smiled wickedly. "I watch a lot of Dateline NBC."

"I'm so glad that trash is gone," Hanji sighed, tipping their head back so all their chestnut hair fanned out around them, shedding shampoo and the last of the gore. "Never trust the media for real science. That's because the research they're spouting often wasn't peer-reviewed. Researchers whose work would not stand up to intellectual scrutiny ran first to the press with their findings, hoping to get attention that the scientific community would not give them. Science by press conference is what that was called." Hanji wrinkled their nose. “Abominable practice.”

"Sounds like someone didn't get enough media attention as a child," Levi replied, reaching over to tug on a lock of their hair.

“Nope,” Hanji replied proudly, snagging the shampoo bottle so they could soap up again, “but everyone in my fields knew who I was. And several other fields as well. Good science speaks for itself.” As they worked a second lather into their hair, they shuddered. “I made the news once. Just once, and it was a small segment, but for such a brief clip they managed to get almost all of the facts backwards. My colleagues were still teasing me about it when the world ended.”

"Sure, Herr Freud," Levi replied before he retreated to the deep end to tread away from the crowd, the cool water was doing wonders for his nerves even if it wasn't for his extremities.

"Commander," Eren called over, "are you going to bathe off, too? I thought you needed it the most."

“When three of you have finished, come and trade off with Mike, Nanaba and I,” he answered, his eyes on their surroundings.

Levi rolled his eyes. "Bring me a towel, I'll go," he volunteered, holding a hand out expectantly.

"You're not even in the company," Jean snorted, folding his arms across his chest. "You can't keep watch."

"I think it's safe to say that I am a part of your band of survivors. I am, therefore, intent on surviving. Fucking you over would be a conflict of interest."

Jean scowled at him and climbed out of the pool for the towels. "I'll go. Marco?"

“That’s fine,” the boy said quietly, moving to the edge of the pool. The three hadn’t been talking much, whether it was directly to each other or to their comrades. Erwin made a mental note to keep an eye on that, as tension between his men could mean problems in action.

“I’ll go too,” Krista volunteered. “And Ymir needs to check the suspension more closely, don’t you, Ymir?”

The freckled girl groaned, but did not deny it. “And the grills, I suppose. All of that shit needs cleaning up, but I’m not doing that myself.”

“Have Connie and Sasha help you,” Erwin told her. “Also Eren and Armin.”

The group didn’t go with a lot of enthusiasm, but they did go.

"Now," Levi said, turning to Erwin, his face deadly serious, "get in the kiddie pool before I throw you in."

"I would love to see you try," Mikasa scoffed, but Levi brushed it off.

Despite Levi's order, Erwin waited until Jean was up beside him and ready to take over before they traded off. When the boy wrinkled his nose at the smell coming off of Erwin, the commander raised an eyebrow. "Watch yourself Kirchstein. I've seen your postcoital cuddling."

"Right ... Sorry, sir," Jean grumbled as he towel dried and slipped back into his old uniform.

Erwin's first stop was indeed the kiddie pool. He peeled off his uniform and dropped it unceremoniously onto the concrete. The water only came up to his abdomen when he sat down, but he was able to lean forward and scrub the worst of the mess from his skin and hair, grimacing as his fingers caught in the gummy strands. He was careful around his face and the bandaged stitches across his shoulders, trying not to wet either until he had someone who could ensure that nothing got into his eyes or cuts.

Although most people didn't bother to look at Erwin, and those who did didn't dare laugh, but Levi didn't spare him his chuckles.

"That is so sad," he said before he worked his way back to the shallow water again.

Erwin had also been careful to keep his ears above the water, and he sat up to look at Levi over the edge of the pool. Before he could reply, however, Nanaba happened to glance over at him as they passed on their way to the pool. They actually did a double-take at the sight of Erwin.

"Holy shit, Levi. That's not sad, that's creepy as fuck. He looks like the villain from a slasher film."

"I do often carry a machete," Erwin told them, though he looked down and found that he'd actually managed to significantly darken the water with the gore he'd been trying to scrub from his skin. He reached back over the edge for his torn undershirt and balled it up in his hand to scrub off with.

"Dress him up all you like, I don't think that man could ever be scary to me," Levi replied as he started shampooing a second--or third?--time. "Think we'll find any clothes around here or do you think it's all been ransacked already?" he asked no one in particular as he looked at his pile of dirty clothes with clear disdain.

"Doubt we'll find anything in your size," Mike replied as he helped Nanaba wash shampoo out of their hair. "Or mine, to be fair."

Levi shrugged and nodded. "Well, one can hope."

“Hey!” Hanji called from the deep end, straightening out of a silent float and opening their eyes to look down the pool at Levi. “Careful with your face. You have quite a bit of Romero on yours. I’ll get the area around your eyes for you since you can’t see what you’re doing. Blood _may_ not be infectious, but you’re the last person I’d want to test that on.”

“That’s sweet of you,” Levi called back, “but I don’t know if I trust you in deep water. If Erwin’s getting in anyways he can help me out. Besides, he missed some in his hair so I think he needs some help, too,” he teased before he turned to Erwin. “Do you need my permission to get out of the kiddie pool?”

“You mean I can get in the big pool without floaties?” Erwin asked, looking down at his pink skin and thinking he probably got most of what he could see. Tossing the sopping wet shirt back up onto the concrete, the commander stood, shivering in the chilly air, and moved quickly over to the edge of the larger pool.

Levi very casually, and only briefly averted his eyes until Erwin finally sank into the pool, busying himself washing out the rest of the shampoo again with no regard to how much he might be drying his hair out. "You're still a wreck. Looks like you only got more filthy by sitting in that water."

“I think I only managed to push it around,” Erwin agreed, but the state of his skin had improved some. He thought that soap would probably help, and moved towards Levi with that goal in mind. “I’ll do your face first if you like," he offered. "My own mess is going to be a longer project.” Levi should probably get out of the water soon. Erwin wasn’t sure if he’d noticed yet that he was shivering.  

“Hell, I won’t argue. Get this shit off of my face,” Levi sighed, passing Erwin a bottle of soap that Auruo had tossed to him.

Erwin squeezed a little into his palm and gestured for Levi to move closer, setting it on the edge of the pool so he could reach up and use both of his hands to work on the other man’s face. He moved from the bottom up, holding Levi’s head in place with his fingers and using his thumbs to work the soap into a slow, careful lather. The suds turned pink as he worked.

Levi occasionally flinched away, but as Erwin worked and he could feel the dirt and blood rubbing off, he relaxed more and more into the touch. Keeping his eyes closed tight, he blew out a sigh through his nose. “Hanji would have given me a black eye by now,” he grumbled.

“Maybe,” Erwin laughed a little. “But you’d sure as hell be spotless. I’m about to use my fingernail here, so don’t flinch.” He grimaced a little, careful with the thin skin beneath Levi’s eyes, but he knew it had to be uncomfortable no matter how careful he was. “Once I finish this I’ll only have your forehead and hairline.”

“Hurry it up,” the smaller man grumbled through tight lips. “I don’t need the play-by-play. I can feel your fingers.”

Erwin snorted, letting go of him to reach down and rinse the suds from his hands. “You’ll have to tip your head back,” he said, carefully swiping soap from Levi’s skin. He was extra cautious around the shorter man’s eyes, dipping his hands back into the pool after each pass. When he finished up, he nodded as he rinsed the last of the soap. “Done with the bottom half.”

“Alright,” Levi replied, taking a small step away from Erwin. The motion was automatic - there was still a part of him that calculated the risk of going underwater with someone else nearby, someone much larger than him. Even if that someone had literally saved him from drowning. “I’ll get it from here, thanks.” He stepped out a little deeper so that he wouldn’t have to lean too far back to be comfortable and bent his neck back, soaking his hair again and finally his face, where he reached up to wipe away the remaining soap, sweat, dirt, and blood.

Erwin squeezed a little more of the soap into his hands and lathered up as he waited for Levi to finish, keeping half an eye on him and half an eye on the others, who had collectively agreed without ever communicating it that they would give their naked commander a little space. They stuck to the deep end, mostly, treading water and diving to the bottom after fumbled shampoo bottles--a little more fearless once Hanji told them that there was enough chlorine in the pool to kill most macroorganisms, never mind a microscopic one. Likely, the community had added more than was technically safe to keep the pool a little cleaner during the winter while no one was using it. Erwin could feel the chemicals tickling at his lungs when he inhaled.

“You missed a little here,” the commander said, pointing to the corresponding spot along his own forehead without actually touching his face.

With his ears under the water, Levi hadn’t heard what Erwin had said, only saw someone approaching, saw a hand approaching his face. His head snapped back up and his hand shot out, snatching Erwin’s wrist like a fly in a pair of chopsticks. The look he gave the blond was cold, hard, uncaring of the cold water dripping from his hair down onto his forehead and nose and cheeks, but there was confusion there, too, and Levi tilted his head, his question unspoken.

“I wasn’t going to drown you,” the commander said seriously.

Levi held his stare for a second before he smirked and released Erwin’s wrist. “Just wanted to hold your hand was all,” he replied.

“Well,” Erwin pronounced, reaching slowly to catch a line of pink suds before they hit Levi’s eyebrow. “Save it for when you don’t have Romero gore running into your eyes.” His mind was obviously churning even as he applied his thumbnail to the stubborn spot at Levi’s hairline. He wasn’t any less careful, but his brow was furrowed in thought.

Levi didn’t take his eyes from Erwin. He’d always prided himself in that unwavering stare-down ability of his, how it had a way of drawing either the truth or fear out of people, but Erwin was giving him nothing and it only made Levi more curious. Particularly so about why he had reached out and grabbed him. He’d been startled, sure, but even in that moment he’d known it was Erwin, and he knew Erwin wouldn’t kill him. If he was afraid of something, it wasn’t death.

He backed down, the first to break away and immediately dipped under the water again running his hands up and down his face, through his hair, and straightened again. “How’s that?” he asked, his voice as even as ever. “Better?”

“You look about as clean as you’ll be getting,” Erwin told him honestly. “You did a decent job considering we didn’t have any steel wool available.”

“Well, you work with what you’ve got. Give me the soap and let’s see what we can do for you.” He took the bottle from Erwin’s hand and squirted a liberal amount into his palm. He lathered it up and started immediately on Erwin’s neck and chin, working his way up as Erwin had on him. His touch was much more firm, but not rough as he worked the suds  around behind Erwin’s ears and up to pick at the drying blood on his cheeks. He worked faster than Erwin did, as well, in terms of speed, but he took pauses occasionally. Checking for missed spots, he told himself.

At some point, Erwin had closed his eyes against the threat of flying suds, folding his knees and allowing the water to close over his shoulders, his neck, tipping his head blindly to Levi’s face in attempt to make it easier for the other man to reach him.

“Stand up in front of me,” Levi said abruptly as he rubbed at Erwin’s nose, glad that the man’s eyes were closed so he couldn’t see him struggling not to smile. “Don’t be insulting. Alright, rinse. Let’s see how that does.”

“The air is chilly,” Erwin lied smoothly, pressing his eyes a little more firmly shut and sliding straight down beneath the water. He came up with his head tipped back, his blonde hair smoothing naturally against his scalp.

He emerged more or less clean. Levi had done a better job on him than vice versa, and Levi couldn't help but admire his own handiwork.

At least, that's what he told himself when he realized that he was staring at Erwin, but the lie just wasn't sticking. Erwin looked so human now, without the uniform and the weapons and the blood on his face, and that being the case it was a lot harder, impossible even, for Levi to fool himself, and in the short span of time that he stared, he very quickly realized what he might have been fearful of.

Erwin’s fingers pressed against his eyes, wicking water away from them, so it took him a moment to realize that Levi wasn’t speaking. When he did, his mouth opened about the same time as his eyelids, preparing to ask Levi if something was amiss. The words died before he composed them, flying away from him in every direction as he caught sight of the heat in the other man’s expression. When Erwin straightened his knees, they were too close for acquaintances to be standing, too close for friends. Levi had seemed much farther away when Erwin had been closer to the water, the other man bending over him and his lower body arching away. Erwin’s lips parted again to say something, his tongue going to the front of his mouth to pronounce an ‘L.’

"It's cold as fuck out here," Levi sighed, sudden and insistent, as though Erwin's eyes reminded him of how blue his lips must have gotten by now. He stepped around Erwin and started wading towards the steps. "If we don't get out soon Hanji's going to start bitching at us about it."

"They already are," Erwin noted, nodding in Hanji's direction. The doctor looked about four seconds away from coming over to meet them, their hands on their freshly clothed hips and disapproval written all over their pristine face. "They just haven't put it into words yet."

The commander turned to follow Levi, realizing as he pulled himself out of the pool that it wasn't as many shades darker as he'd expected it to be.

"If you want to warm me up, Glasses, you'd better go find a drink," Levi's teeth chattered as he spoke to the doctor in passing. He begrudgingly picked up the clothes he'd shed minutes earlier and started to put them back on with a look of disgust.

"There are clean clothes in the humvee," Erwin told him as he skirted around the other man, leaving his own filthy clothes where they lay. "You're welcome to them if you don't mind wearing the team colors."

Levi seemed to mull this over, looking down at his own clothes and pursing his lips. "Think you've got one in my size?"

"I've got an extra!" Krista called from one humvee up as Ymir howled with laughter from beneath the vehicle.

Erwin tipped a shoulder in a _might as well_ sort of way. "It's clean."

"It's clean," Levi agreed before he slipped back out of his pants again.

"And dry," Hanji added, bending forward to wring their sodden hair onto the pavement. "And not a biohazard. I'd like to take a look at your stitches, Erwin, if you have a minute. They should probably come out in the next couple of days."

"Speaking of those, I think you just fucked him up worse," Levi snorted as he gathered his clothes. "How many times did you say you'd done that before?"

"On a living person?" Hanji grinned. "Never. That's an autopsy stitch."

"Jesus, doctor, he's not dead yet."

"Of course he isn't," the doctor laughed. "It isn't pretty work, but he isn't leaking anymore."

"Is this how Frankenstein's Monster felt?" Erwin wanted to know. But he didn't try to turn and look over his own shoulder at the damage. He was busy sliding into a clean pair of pants and it didn't matter to him in any case. What his back looked like was unimportant at the end of the day. He cared more about getting his ass covered.

"Maybe if the angry mob was less angry and more hungry," Levi replied.

"Not a problem," Hanji disagreed. "The monster was comprised of six dead men, was he not? Or was it nine? In any case, that spells Romero immunity to me."

"I didn't realize you were a doctor of literature, too. Can we discuss your dissertation when we're fully clothed and a little bit warmer?" Levi asked scathingly.

"Oh, you were going to put on clothing? Standing around gawking like that, I thought you had decided to experiment with nudism." Hanji waved the man off impatiently. "Go get warm you nitwit."

Levi's only response was a snort before he shuffled off towards the humvees, clothes clutched tightly to his chest.

"We're all going to be very comfortable with each other before this trip is over," Hanji observed, taking Erwin by the back of the shoulder and stepping around him to start unwinding bandages. " _Some_ may be more comfortable than others?"

"Are you asking a question?" Erwin lifted his arms so the doctor could free him from his dressings.

"Do you have a reason to interpret that as a question?"

"No, you're right. What you've been observing is complicated, but there is real emotion there." Erwin paused just long enough for the information to sink in, feeling Hanji's hands slow as the gears in their head ground to an unexpected stop. Erwin smiled. "Yes, I think Eren, Marco and Jean will be able to work things out between them."

Hanji sighed.


	16. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still October in spirit.

Levi's hair was still plastered against his forehead when they pulled up to the mom-and-pop, a little place with the sign faded and the broken windows boarded up. His lips were a little blue and he was wrapped up in one of the blankets again, and he thought if he could make himself get his hair out of his face it might help, but the thought of wiggling his hands free wasn't a pleasant one.

Erwin had been standing since he got into the vehicle, his sharp eyes minding the road ahead of them through the sight of a rifle. “Clear the exterior and set the perimeter,” he told the company, prompting the other vehicles to split apart and circle around the building. “Mike, take the first watch for this vehicle. I’ll send Nanaba to relieve you once the exterior is clear.” One of the officers really ought to be within the safety of the vehicle at all times until the perimeter was established. Even then, this unfamiliar quiet was setting Erwin on edge. He hadn’t trusted that kind of tranquility in a long time.

“Roger that,” Mike said with a nod as he settled back into the seat.

Eld radioed in when the perimeter was set and while other members of the company were clamouring out to begin searching the surrounding area, Levi stayed put, wrapped in his blanket and intent on keeping Mike company during his watch.

“You aren’t going with Erwin?” Hanji asked, turning from the window where they’d been watching the commander join up with the group from humvee three.

“I’m cold,” Levi replied.

“That didn’t stop you from getting in a swimming pool,” Mike snorted. “Besides, moving a little bit will warm you back up. You ought to pull your weight a little bit.”

“I don’t know,” Hanji said doubtfully. “He does look a little blue, Mike. Are you alright, Levi?” They leaned forward to press the backs of their fingers against his cheek, frowning faintly in concern, but before they could touch him, Levi batted their hand away, a little more roughly than necessary.

“Holy shit, Levi, your hands are freezing!”

“I’m alright,” he said, shifting out of the blanket. “I’ll help them clear the building when they’re done out here.”

“No, put that back on,” Hanji said quickly, turning to climb back into the back of the humvee. “I’m sure Mike didn’t realize how cold you were when he suggested you pull your weight.” A minute later, another blanket came flying over the back seat and landed partially draped over Levi. “Do you need another?” But they were already digging through the crate again without waiting for his answer.

“Doctor, I appreciate your concern,” Levi replied slowly, “but I’ll have plenty of time in here to warm up. And Erwin’s out there. He was just as bad off.” Levi looked out of the window then at Erwin and noticed that most of the company had gathered, apparently reporting on a clear exterior. “Besides, I want dibs on any fruit in the building,” he added before he popped open the door and slipped out, picking his machete up from the floorboard and leaving Hanji protesting but powerless under Mike’s supervision.

Erwin’s hands were tucked under his armpits when Levi arrived, but apart from that he showed little sign of discomfort in the cold. He glanced over at the shorter man and paused, his eyes dropping unapologetically to his mouth. “Your lips are blue.”

Levi raised an eyebrow. “My lips aren’t any of your business, Commander,” he shot back, though his own eyes wandered to Erwin’s lips without comment on their color. “Pas encore.”

A short pause. “Pas encore?”

“Didn’t take any French in college?” Levi scoffed. “It’s the international business language. Or was.”

“I was involved in a different kind of business,” was Erwin’s noncommittal answer, his attention turning seamlessly towards the group gathered around him. Hanji had just joined them with Mike in tow, meaning that Nanaba would be situated in humvee one. The doctor dropped a coat over Levi’s shoulders from behind, ruffling his damp hair and heading for Erwin next.

“There are hats in the pockets. One of these days I’m going to stop taking care of you two. You shouldn’t need a doctor to hand you a coat. That’s common sense.”

Levi sighed and slipped his arms into the coat. Maybe the movement was what caused him to get a whiff of it, but a second sniff confirmed that the jacket smelled exactly like Erwin’s.

"You know I have my own coat, right?" Levi asked the doctor. "One that fits me. And doesn't smell like copious amounts of hair product."

“You can still smell that?” Erwin asked, running a hand through his damp hair. “It’s been weeks since I used it last.”

“I couldn’t find your coat, Levi,” Hanji lied easily. “And besides, you seem more attached to this one.”

"Well, I don't mind it at all," Levi agreed with a shrug. "It overpowers the scent of the dead. 

“There’s likely some in the general store,” Erwin replied without blinking. “It’s not too late to change your look.”

"I _just_ got clean," Levi protested sternly.

“And now you can smell that way.”

Levi met Erwin's stare with a blank expression as Hanji doubled over, positively howling with laughter. Several of the others looked over to see what all the commotion was about, but Erwin only waved them over and started handing out orders, unreadable as a card shark.

"Humvee five, set up the hand pump and start pumping diesel for the humvees. Three, you're responsible for perimeter control and four, you clear the store and see if there's anything there we can use, especially water, canned goods, and medical supplies. Check behind the counter for a weapon and ammunition. Hanji, you stay close to humvee one until the store is cleared, then I want you to oversee the search for supplies. Mike, you stay on Hanji." Erwin's eyes fell to Levi and he paused thoughtfully, admittedly curious to see what the man would do with an order. "You too."

Levi balked at that, surprised and perhaps a little haughty, but he didn't make a move to leave Hanji's side as the company parted with their instructions.

“So, about those hats I left in your pockets …” Hanji tried.

As though he had legitimately forgotten, Levi reached quickly into his pocket and pulled out a small beanie. He turned it over in his hand for a moment before he finally pulled it on over his head and down to his ears. “Sure glad I didn’t put any opossum fat in my hair,” he said with a pointed look at Erwin.

“It’s too bad we still smell like opossums, though,” the commander countered as he pulled the gloves from his pockets and casually ignored the hat as though he hoped the gloves would be enough to appease Hanji.

But he needn’t have bothered. Hanji’s mind was already turning in another direction. “I’ve been thinking,” the doctor said. “October is the only month you celebrate Halloween, correct? Things would have been getting pretty bad here by the beginning of October, wouldn’t they? So why are there decorations out?”

“People in smaller towns had the luxury of pretending everything was okay for a little bit longer,” Levi replied, his tone a little bitter. “They might have been decorating to keep their mind on the holidays, or because they thought they would be home in time to pass out candy.”

Ymir’s head came up as quickly as a cobra’s. “Holy shit you’re right! Candy!”

"Commander," Petra called to them. "We're all finished up in here!" She was visibly excited and it was easy to see why. Inside the picturesque little store canned foods and jams and butters still lined the walls, candy still filled jars. Eld had been successful in finding two firearms under the counter.

But the first thing that managed to move Levi enough to approach it was a large rack beside a table in the corner. The tabletop was covered in hideous wool sweaters of all colors and sizes and the rack stood filled with equally hideous (and in some cases, matching) toque hats.

Hanji bustled in after Levi as soon as the others declared the shop clear, hopping neatly over a fallen Romero to look around in appreciation at the unexpected bounty that greeted them. It was clearly more than the humvees could carry even if they only took the cans. "I've just discovered a new appreciation for small towns," the doctor said to no one in particular.

Mike followed closely behind Hanji, though he relaxed when they got into the store and he got to share in everyone's pleasant surprise. "Are there any buckeyes? Please tell me there are buckeyes."

Eld turned from where he stood in front of the candy counter, a chocolate covered peanut butter buckeye halfway in his mouth.

When Levi rounded the corner again, he was wearing a ridiculously large sweater decorated with black cats and pumpkins and a fall-colored toque hat that came down almost past his thin eyebrows. He headed for the food and started scanning the jars.

"There's fruit preserves of every damn kind here. Syrup, butter, mixes ... Tea." He passed the goods and went to the counter, where there were brown paper bags. He grabbed a handful before returning to the shelves.

Erwin was the last to enter the store, hanging back to see to it that the perimeter was complete and hand-pumping was going smoothly. Once he saw that there was diesel in the underground tanks, his shoulders relaxed minutely and he went in, sidestepping Gunther and Petra as they carried one of the Romeros past him, clearing the way for the massive collection of goods that was about to commence. They'd hit the jackpot on canned food, that was for sure. He would have to rely on Hanji to ensure that they took the most nutritious of the available options. He went looking for the doctor, but spied Levi first, looking like he was drowning in a sweater so large on him that Mike could have worn it, his head covered in the most hideous headwear he'd ever seen.

"I see you found the hand-made clothing. It's good to support local talent."

“You would not believe how warm this shit is,” Levi replied, shoving jars and boxes into the paper bags. He cast a look at Mike as he filled one of the bags with the remaining containers of buckeyes and passed it to him. Mike smiled and nodded in acknowledgement as he took the bag.

"It was clearly made with love," Erwin said drily.

“Worn with it, too, it looks like,” Petra said as she joined them. “Ymir is getting a closer look at the humvees while she’s out there. She’s looking under the hood and everything.”

“Good,” Levi said, handing her another filled bag and a couple of empty ones. “Fill these up with whatever you want.”

Petra laughed, looking down at his sweater. “Sure thing, Pumpkin.”

"Consult with Hanji," Erwin amended. The doctor was crouched down in the canned food section, pulling things off shelves.

"We're going to want all the fruit," the doctor told them. "Fruit has nutrients you can't get anywhere else and we're not likely to see much of it where we're going." They looked up at Erwin. "Do you know if perhaps the government has a seed bank on one of the ships?"

"They had plans in place for a large-scale disaster like this one. From what I understand, I can infer that they included a seed bank in those plans."

"Good to know they have their priorities straight," Auruo groused, returning with a couple of cardboard packing trays that canned goods were shipped in.

"You could forego the seeds in order to evacuate more people," Erwin said, "but then you run into the problem of how you're going to feed them once you have saved them. Sometimes the unpalatable choice is also the necessary one."

“Got a sweet tooth?” Levi asked abruptly, scanning through the shelves covered in local candies.

"Most people do," Hanji piped up from across the store. "The reason for that being that amniotic fluid is slightly sweet, therefore sweetness is the first taste you ever know. You have to learn to like other things through exposure, but not sweetness."

"Does anyone else want to know who tasted amniotic fluid to get this information?" Eld asked them.

“Some sad, weird bastard that’s probably dead now,” Levi replied, picking various types of candy and packaged sweets and dumping them into the sack. “How wonderful. Now, when I bite into a moon pie, I can think back and remember being a wee babe, floating in my mother’s womb.”

"The taste profile of a moon pie would be far more complex than amniotic fluid. And the chemical composition as well."

"Oh my god are we comparing moon pies to birthing fluids now?" Auruo moaned.

Mike laughed and patted the man’s shoulder, shoving a moon pie into his hands.

“You really have a way of lighting up the womb, Four Eyes,” Levi said.

"Right back at ya, Baby," Hanji laughed.

Petra covered her face and shook her head at the terrible puns. When she removed her hand, her face was flushed. “Oh my God …” she chuckled as she packed bags of salted nuts into a bag 

"I need to get out of here," Gunther groaned, snatching a couple bags from the counter and beating a hasty retreat.

Levi cracked something of a smile and patted Hanji’s back and they grinned up at him from the floor where they sat loading cans of peaches into a cardboard tray. "You should do that more often," they suggested, glancing over at Erwin to see that he wasn't looking at them and taking the opportunity to waggle their eyebrows conspiratorially. "He's a catch."

Levi glanced at Hanji and raised an eyebrow as he scooped all of the lollipops into a bag. "Do what?" he asked. "Make womb jokes? Or harmlessly flirt with you? I don't see how either of those things have to do with him." He nodded his head towards Erwin. "Besides, I don't want to catch anybody."

"Smile," Hanji clarified. "It softens your features. Makes you look kind of like a human being." They nudged him playfully. "Well, since you aren't interested, this may be useless information to you, but from what I've observed, if you were interested in trying to catch him, he doesn't seem to be resisting capture."

"Thank you, Mother," Levi snorted. "If he thought that I was seriously flirting, he would run as far and fast as those boots could carry him."

"Why would you assume that?"

"Because he's smart."

Hanji frowned. "I fail to see how his intelligence level has any bearing on his interest in you."

Levi snorted again and shook his head dismissively. "Don't worry about it, Doctor. Try your matchmaking magic on Eren."

"When someone says don't worry about it that's when I immediately become intrigued." Hanji actually sat their cans down to look at him directly.

"You’re making something out of nothing,” Levi replied with a sigh 

Hanji studied him intently for a moment, their eyes gleaming with curiosity. "You said it yourself, that the commander would run as fast as he could if he thought you were flirting. I'm only wondering what you meant by that. I haven't drawn any solid conclusions about it yet because I don't have enough information to work with." They clearly hoped he would give them this information as well.

Levi turned and looked at Hanji for a moment, silent. Finally, he sat down the bag he had been filling. “First of all, your dreamboat commander is in charge of a company in the middle of the end of the world. His only concerns are you and his soldiers. Secondly, I’m not interested in anyone who insists on bossing me around.”   

"In his defense, you haven't really seen him in a situation where he isn't having to be a commander. Bossy is kind of in the job description. He may be completely different in a different context."

“He wasn’t very different when we were huddling for warmth in Niagara Falls.”

"I don't think that's a different enough context to use it as an example of, say, what he'd be like if you met him in a bar. He may have seen it as an extension of his duty as a commander to get you both back in one piece to the company. You probably won't completely know what he's like until we get back to the Sina and we're all safe."

“I likely won’t even see it then,” Levi replied. “It doesn’t matter either way. Why are you trying so hard?”

Hanji shrugged. "There's not a lot to do except meddle. Hmm. I suppose it's true the three of us may not see much of each other once we get on board. I'd better see plenty of you, though."

Levi grabbed the armful of bags he'd already stuffed and headed for the door. "I'm not making any promises to anyone."

Hanji lifted the full case of canned goods with unexpected ease, carrying it like it barely weighed anything. "Oh yeah. You could get extremely busy on the one thousand foot long refugee boat, I understand."

"Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring," Levi replied. "I don’t know if I'm even going to get on the refugee ship." He opened the back of the humvee and loaded the bags in before he took the crate from Hanji and slid it inside.

"You still don't know if you're getting on the ship? Why on earth not?"

Levi glanced around the side of the humvee to make sure no one was within earshot before he closed the trunk. "Unlike the rest of you, my responsibilities aren't back on that ship. They likely aren't even on their way there yet." His tone was harsher than it had been, though it betrayed little else. He turned and headed back towards the store and hopefully away from Hanji's prying.

Hanji did not seem to take the hint, though, jogging to catch up to him. "You have people out there?" Hanji asked. "Who? I thought you'd lost everyone."

“It’s complicated,” Levi replied huffily.

Hanji blinked in confusion, looking very much like they wanted to ask him at least ten or eleven more questions, but they heaved a sigh and said instead, "You know, Levi, the more I learn about you the more mysterious you seem to get. Shouldn't it be the opposite?"

Levi yanked the door to the store open again, clearly irritated with the questions. “Then maybe you should stop digging and be satisfied with not knowing me at all.”

Hanji headed back over to the fruit to start filling another cardboard tray. "And here I thought you wanted to be friends," they said. "That's a shame. You're the only one here who appreciates my sense of humor."

“I don’t mind being friendly,” Levi clarified, “but having friends in a world where you might lose them before nightfall is unpleasant.” He started scanning through the shelves for things more valuable than candy.

"You say that now, but friends are vital to your psychological health. There was a study."

“I have all the sweaters. Should we take the rest of the hats too?” Petra asked from where she was collecting clothes. It was then that Levi looked up to find that Auruo had donned a toque hat matching his own.

"Looks like you're not going to avoid people who want to be your friend," Hanji sniffed. "I wish you the best of luck in your attempt, though."

Levi scowled at Hanji and avoided looking back at Auruo, who was laughing as he shoved a third hat onto Petra.

Hanji simply looked back at him, perhaps a bit sadly, and turned back to their work.

They made short work of the shelves--as much as they could safely carry. Even four humvees stuffed full of jars and cans wouldn't last the Sina long, but if they made it back, this would ease the burden placed on their supply runners that much more. Erwin marked the location of the mom and pop on his map, though he suspected it would be too far inland for the runners to find terribly tempting. As he rounded up his men, one last thing occurred to him. "If you want to eat something other than MREs while we're on the road, you'll want to go find a can opener," he told Sasha as she peered past him, her eyes wide with glee at the sight of all the canned fruit that had been loaded into the humvees while she was filling humvees. She nodded at him rapidly and spun on her heel.

"There will be one in the house!"

"Take a group with you. The house hasn't been cleared."

Sasha rounded up Connie, Ymir, Krista, Eld, Auruo and Levi and led them to the small house, machetes and firearms in hand and ready.

"Wait, wait," Ymir said, stopping the company as it came to the porch. She crept up alone, the wooden steps croaking and bending under her boots. She stopped at the doormat and rang the doorbell. The battery was on its last leg and hardly wheezed, so she began pounding on the door.

It was less than a minute later that they heard the groaning and immediately after something hit the door, unable to open it.

Ymir waited a moment to be sure that there was only one before she flung the screen open and kicked in the door. "Trick or treat!" she howled, plowing into the house and sinking her machete into the stunned Romero's head.

"Ymir!" Krista chided. "That poor woman was a person once."

Ymir looked up from her machete like a bear caught with its paw in a camper's picnic basket, then slowly placed her boot on the Romero's clavicle to hold it down as she yanked up on the weapon. Krista sighed.

Sasha stepped over the body and into the house, another machete over her own shoulder. She seemed to instinctively know where the kitchen was, as she found it with little problem and was rummaging through drawers before the rest of them even got there.'

"Looks like she was already stocked for today. What, a month in advance?" Auruo scoffed, pulling bags of candy from the cabinet.

"Told you," Eld snorted.

Levi, meanwhile, was staring wordlessly at something on the counter.

"What is it?" Krista asked, following his gaze to a small machine.

"This," he said slowly, lifting it from the countertop, "is a battery operated hot water kettle ..." He cradled it close to his chest, afraid to drop it, as though he had just been handed a newborn child.

"Good, because I found batteries!" Connie called, pulling an old shoebox from another cabinet.

"And the can opener!" Sasha crowed.

Ymir was busy shoveling Halloween candy into a pillowcase by the bag, her priorities obviously in the right place. Sasha tucked the can opener into a pocket and joined her, though she focused on the canned foods.

Levi had moved into smaller cabinets in a search for tea and had only been successful in the sense that he found a half full box of Lipton tea bags. He moved on to the fridge then and found unopened bottles of cheap wine.

"Jesus," he snorted, pulling one out. "Granny could turn up." He thought better about keeping it and placed it back in the fridge.

"There was some harder stuff behind the counter in the store," Sasha told them. "I grabbed it for the General." She sighed. "It's too bad we risk being eaten by Romeros if we drink on the road."

"I'd worry more about what the commander would do to your drunken hide if he smelled it on you," Connie laughed.

"The General?" Levi asked. "You're hoarding liquor for your General?"

"He's quirky," Sasha explained, but Ymir cut in with, "He's a lush."

"He sounds like a deadbeat drunk, sending you people out here and expecting you to come back with liquor." Levi took his loot and headed for the door again.

"He's an amazing leader, so I think everyone looks the other way," Sasha said.

"It all goes over my head," Connie shrugged. "I just know he said if we happened across anything to pick it up."

Levi shook his head but didn't comment. "Come on, we'd better head back," he sighed.

Erwin had the humvees completely loaded when they returned, the perimeter broken down. He'd moved the vehicles into a line just outside of the house where they'd been waiting for them to finish up and was once more seated in the front, a fresh map over his knees.

"We ought to be full up on candy for a while," Levi said as he slid into the back with his kettle, tea, batteries, and even a couple of teacups. "Sasha found a can opener."

"Looks like you found something as well," Hanji observed, their eyes on his haul.

"This little machine is the best thing that has happened to me in months," Levi replied, inspecting it and turning it over in his hands. "I don't recognize the brand, but that could mean that's it's even nicer than I thought."

"You know enough about electric kettles to recognize brand names at all?" Hanji asked, obviously torn between being impressed and amused.

“Well, most of them are normal kitchen name brands. Cuisinart, Bunn, Keurig, Hamilton Beach … Stuff like that. Depends on what you’re looking for,” Levi replied, though his voice was distant, distracted. He was dropping a tea bag into one of the cups and searching for a water bottle.

"You're about to make tea in the back of a military humvee in the middle of the apocalypse. You might have just become my actual hero."

"I suppose you and I will be in competition for batteries now," Erwin said from the front seat. Batteries were on the list of things he'd instructed his men to pick up if they found them, even if they didn't need batteries of that kind for any of their equipment. The supply team was always talking about batteries.

“This won’t use a lot of energy,” Levi promised as he set the kettle on the even surface between him and Hanji and poured half of a bottle of water in it. “I’ll be careful to keep it turned off, though it may do so automatically. This set may last me until we get to the ship.”

"Once we're on board you'll have difficulty talking the ration guys out of their batteries," Erwin warned him. "You may want to be on the lookout for some kind of charger. We're working on a solar grid to provide the ships with electricity, but progress has been understandably slow. Until then, batteries are as precious as gold."

"Was there a power cord with that as well?" Hanji asked. "If plugging it in is an option then perhaps we could rig something up."

“Yeah, I managed to snag that too. I didn’t think there would be power, even on the ship, but it’s good to be prepared,” Levi replied. He watched attentively as the machine began heating the water and fidgeted with the tea bag’s tab.

Erwin watched him in the mirror as he waited for Mike to get situated, his eyes cool and assessing. "It looks like you're getting to know the company some," he observed, waiting for Levi to meet his eyes and then transferring his gaze pointedly to Auruo, who was darting for his own humvee door with a toque just like Levi's situated over his head.

“I’m trying to stay warm, not start a fashion trend,” Levi grumbled, though something about Auruo’s imitation warmed his heart. It was flattering, if nothing else. “In fact, you should have grabbed a hat, too. I got some extras.” He turned his eyes back to Erwin’s.

"Yes," Hanji agreed with a nod. "You'll need to be extra careful to mind your extremities. Both of you. Levi really does have the right idea here."

"Thank you both, but I'll pass on the local color for now."

Levi scoffed, though his attention was again split as the kettle began dispensing water into his teacup. “I never would have taken you for a fashionista.”

“You know,” Mike said, looking back as he cranked the humvee at last, confident that the last of the soldiers had made it into their own vehicles, “I don’t think a porcelain tea cup is very practical in here …”

“Actually,” Levi said quietly, “it’s bone china.”

"How can you tell any difference?" Hanji asked. "It all looks the same painted and glazed over doesn't it?"

“To you, maybe,” Levi replied. “Also, it says on the bottom.” He held up the other cup for Hanji to see. “Authentic English bone china. So don’t touch it with your grubby fingers.”

"Oooh, fascinating," Hanji said, plucking the cup from his hand and peering closely at the stamp. "I had no idea that tea cups could be 'authentic.' The more you know, I guess."

Levi’s eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to protest, though he ultimately decided against it. He turned the kettle off and picked up the teacup very carefully by its rim. He needn't have worried. Hanji returned the cup to him in one piece, even going so far as to wrap it up and return it to his bag for him.

"How many cups did you get?" They asked curiously, their eyes on his hand with interest.

“Just two,” he replied. “I couldn’t find the whole set. It’s likely she bought them separately. It wouldn’t have been wise to bring more than that anyways.”

"That's a good idea, having an extra in case one breaks."

"That was the idea. Though I suppose I would be up for sharing if someone found that they wanted a cup. Tea is a very social drink in every culture. To have gotten one cup would have really been sad."

"You are too adorable. Well if you want to share the cups I'll use the coffee packet in the MRE tomorrow morning. I don't want to drink your tea when I prefer coffee."

Levi looked at Hanji and one side of his lips turned up in a small smile. “Sounds like a plan,” he replied. He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly in such a great mood, comparatively, but he supposed it had something to do with the smell of black tea wafting from the china in his hand. He took his first sip of it and swallowed, savoring the warmth and little bit of flavor that Lipton could provide. It could use some sugar, but he couldn’t afford to be picky when this venture had already turned out so well.

Erwin had to look away from the expression of bliss that crossed the other man's face.


	17. Slow Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the record show that it took them 100,000 words and 17 chapters.

The company had loaded each of the humvees with all the canned goods that would fit, and enough cases of bottled water to last them until they reached the coast if they did not waste anything. There was still plenty of daylight left when they finished--enough to afford them all a well-deserved opportunity to recharge.

“When we return to the playground clear the inside as though we haven’t been there before,” Erwin told the company as Mike put the first humvee in park beside the gate. “It’s been long enough now for something to find its way in.”

The clearing went even more quickly than before - Mikasa and Petra could always be trusted to make fast work of anything they came across - and the company was climbing over their new provisions and into the safety of the playground in record time.

“Would a campfire be a bad idea?” Gunther asked Mike and Erwin as he passed them with a box full of canned fruit for them all to enjoy.

“Perhaps not if we shielded the light,” Erwin answered, motioning for Mikasa and a few of the others. “But we’ll worry about that when we’re settled. Ackerman, take humvee two all the way around to the other side and begin the first watch. Ymir, do the same along the back.”

Mikasa nodded and took off without complaint, leaving a moping Ymir to shuffle behind.

Mike headed back behind the humvee to help the company begin unloading bedrolls. He loaded up Sasha and Eren and Armin’s arms before filling his own and following them past the gate wordlessly. Levi fell in behind them, grabbing a few rolls from the back of humvee one and falling in line behind Mike.

Inside the park, Auruo and Petra were spreading tarps for the bedrolls to lay on, placing a barrier between the company and the wet ground. “It’s nice to finally use these for something apart from protecting the seats from Romero gore,” she was saying.

“Speaking of…” Auruo grumbled, disgust clear on his face when he picked up the next tarp and it was smothered with blood and clumps of flesh.

“Sorry about that,” Levi said from behind him, taking the tarp in between hesitant fingers. “I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, believe me.” He tossed it aside and helped them spread the next one.

“I would have done the same thing,” Petra said agreeably. “Being stuck out there by yourself like that …” She shuddered at the thought.

“Did it work?” Auruo asked. “Did they overlook you?”

“As long as I didn’t get too close,” Levi replied. “If they can’t smell you, they can’t tell much of a difference, I don’t think.”

“How did you sleep?” Petra asked. “Without someone else to watch--”

“In cars,” Levi replied quickly. “And occasionally empty buildings when I was feeling ballsy.”

The young woman’s brow furrowed sadly. “I'm glad we met you, then."

"You and me both," Levi grumbled. He secured the corners of the tarp and unfolded the next, his lips pursed.

"There isn't much available closeby to build a fire with," Eld grumbled, noting something like discomfort in Levi's demeanor and trying to move the conversation along. "Did anyone see if they were selling firewood in the general store?"

"I think I spotted some, but I didn't think to grab it," Auruo replied when he stood from the ground and stretched. "We could always head back up there. I think we already took out every Romero in town."

"It's worth asking about," Gunther mused. "We still have hours of daylight left and it isn't exactly grand central out there. Commander may give the okay."

"Let's get on it, then," Auruo insisted, heading off immediately to find Erwin.

The man wasn't far. He was listening to Ymir's assessment of the humvees, nodding at intervals.

"Hey, Commander," Auruo started casually, "I think I saw some firewood in the store up the street, and Eld and I were thinking we could run up there and grab some for a campfire."

"I don't remember volunteering for that," Eld grumbled but Auruo waved him off.

"I'll go," Levi cut in as he approached them.

Erwin's eyes moved from Eld and Auruo over to Levi, his expression thoughtful. "All three of you go," he decided. "And take Petra and Gunther."

Levi saluted sloppily and turned on his heel, team four following behind him eagerly.

By the time they returned, the bedrolls were already laid out and Sasha seemed to be putting clearing a space for the fire. Only Eld carried the wood, his arms loaded up with it as though it weighed nothing, and he dropped it beside her.

"Thank you, guys!" She cried. "I don't think the hedges would have burned, but we can have a decent fire this way."

She'd set up close to the playground equipment, where someone had draped a couple of tarps to block the light that the fire would produce.

"Did you have any trouble?" Erwin asked. Some distance away, he already had the first round of soldiers sleeping and every one of them, daylight or not, was out cold, desperately in need of the rest.

"Not a bit," Levi replied.

"Besides you saving my ass," Gunther snorted, elbowing him lightly, but Levi brushed it off.

"One Romero left in the whole town and you got yourself grabbed."

"They're like cockroaches," Gunther answered as he rubbed sheepishly at the back of his head. "You think you got them all and then hell if there isn't another one."

"Thank you, Levi, for your help," Erwin told him.

The smaller man waved it off. "Just doing my part."

They took the remainder of the day in two shifts. Half of the company slept while the others stood watch, cleaned out the interior of humvee one, took inventory of their supplies. Erwin clocked it so they'd each have a solid eight hours--something that none of them had seen in weeks.

They got the fire going around nine when the shifts were trading out, but something happened between the time the first shift woke up and the second shift went to trade out. The group got hung up around the unlit fire and seemed reluctant to leave it, lingering to talk.

Levi joined them with a small lighter, a cigarette stuck between his lips. "I grabbed those. You never know when you might need wings." He offered the lighter to whoever would take it.

“You smoke?” Eld asked as he took the lighter and held it to the wood pieces under the twig teepee.

“Nobody's perfect,” Levi replied easily, to which they all chuckled.

“That’s gotta be a hard habit nowadays,” Gunther said conversationally. “I used to smoke, but I quit before this shit hit. Where’d you find them?”

“Scavenging vans before you lot picked me up. I’d offer you one, but I won’t be the devil on your shoulder.” He took another puff, turning away and downwind of Gunther in an attempt to keep the smoke off of him. He settled down beside them with the duffle bag of drinks as the fire began to take to the kindling.

“I’ll bum one off of you,” Auruo said and Levi hesitated.

“Auruo,” Petra sighed, “do you even smoke?”

“I do!” Auruo balked, defensive, his lower lip poking out just slightly as he turned from Levi to look at Petra. “Or I did before this all happened and I couldn’t get a hold of them.”

Levi sighed and passed the poor guy a cigarette, and Auruo took the lighter from Eld after he'd gotten a spark going. Levi watched him fumble with it a second and struggle to light the thing, and although he claimed it was because of the slight breeze, it was clear that Auruo had likely never smoked a cigarette, a fact that became all the clearer when he coughed and sputtered on contact with the smoke.

"Already corrupting the company, I see," Erwin commented as he passed, noting how red Auruo turned.

"Everyone is entitled to a calming agent at the end of the world, should they ask me for one," Levi replied, though he was eyeing Auruo disapprovingly.

"This calming agent slows you down," Erwin said to Auruo, raising a disapproving eyebrow of his own. "Keep that in mind before you cultivate the habit."

“Yessir,” Auruo said, fighting to keep the embarrassment out of his voice.

"You'll both be forced to quit at some time or another," Erwin said. "They don't have cigarette rations on the Sina."

“So long as you don’t mess with the bag you picked up with me,” Levi shot back, “I have enough to last a while.”

"No one's going to confiscate your cigarettes," Erwin assured him, amused. He continued on towards the bathrooms on the far side of the pool.

"Why did you grab Red Bull?" Auruo asked as he picked up a can, trying desperately to change the subject to something less embarrassing. "This shit tastes like piss."

"We ought to throw them out," Krista agreed. "They're really just taking up room ..."

"We should get rid of them," Nanaba agreed. "They're taking up space we already don't have. And I know just the way to go about it."

"A drinking game?" Sasha suggested hopefully.

"A drinking game!"

“Oh, Christ,” Gunther laughed, though he stood to help pass out the drinks. “As long as the Commander is okay with this.”

“Okay, what are our options?” Marco asked as he joined them. “How many drinking games do we know, collectively?”

“Well, there’s King’s Cup, if anyone has a deck of cards,” Levi suggested. “Otherwise, Never Have I Ever, Pong, Fuzzy Duck …” Levi listed them off as though going through a mental checklist. “Paranoia is always fun.”

"Holy shit he's like an encyclopedia of bad habits isn't he?" Nanaba asked. Everyone had gathered by the playground equipment and the folded tarps that Sasha laid out for seating. The girl herself had climbed the playground equipment with a rifle and a set of binoculars, though there wasn’t much to see in the post-apocalyptic darkness. With the grid down, they may as well have been in an old world jungle. Connie climbed up after her, though, taking the girl’s hand and letting her haul him over the edge.

Erwin was the last on scene, and he raised an eyebrow at them but did not comment.

"Come on, Commander!" Hanji laughed, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him down between themselves and Levi. "It's Halloween. Join the festivities."

He glanced over at Mike and Nanaba beside him, who shrugged unapologetically. "It's the end of the world, Boss,” the captain said. “We've got a fence and a posted watch, so I'll leave this out of our debriefing if you will."

Erwin’s eyes slid over the assembled group, visibly counting them and finding them all present. “Where is the watch posted?”

“Hey, Commander!” Connie called from above.

Levi scoffed and shook his head. “You guys are simultaneously an embarrassment and the best thing to happen to the United States military.”

“You’ve got a lot of room to talk,” Mike chuckled. “I don’t think a single one of us can rattle off that many drinking games with a cigarette hanging out of our mouths.” Levi turned and blew smoke in his face before he put the butt out.

"He's right," Erwin agreed. "You are all being terribly embarrassing." But he sat down with them anyway, Hanji scooting excitedly out of the way to make room for him. Levi shoved one of the cans into his hand.

“Someone name the game,” he declared when drinks made their way into everyone’s hands.

“Never have I ever,” Armin declared with something of a smile.

“Hey, you’re just picking that because you haven’t done shit.” Ymir folded her arms across her chest, but Mikasa gave her a challenging look.

“Never have I ever it is,” the latter declared. “I’ll start. Never have I ever fucked a chick,” she said, never taking her eyes off of Ymir, who rose to the challenge and popped the tab on a Red Bull. She took a swig and, noticing that Krista had not moved, reached over and opened her drink.

“Here, babe,” she said kindly. “Let me pop that, too.” Krista covered her face and groaned, but she sipped from her own disgusting energy drink.

“Oh my god,” Jean howled before taking a drink of his own.

"Really?" Eren blurted, though he didn't drink from his own can. Auruo, Gunther, Eld, Mike, Connie and Hanji all drank.

The doctor shrugged. "For science."

Levi raised his eyebrows at Hanji. “I never would have guessed,” he said.

“Right, my turn,” Ymir said with a grin. “Never have I ever--”

“Ymir, don’t …” Krista begged.

“--had a dick in me.”

"I see we're wasting no time getting to the good stuff," Nanaba said, tossing back another swallow. Along with them, a scarlet but determined looking Petra, Hanji with another "for science" shrug, Mikasa, Nanaba, Sasha, Jean and Eren. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as everyone realized that not only had Marco not taken a swallow, but he was also looking between Jean and Eren in horror.

"Uh oh," Hanji murmured, just loud enough for both Erwin and Levi to hear. "Duck and cover."

"You--" Marco began. But he closed his mouth quickly when he realized they had an audience.

"I thought you were dead," they heard Jean say quietly. He didn't seem to mind the audience. It was remorse that made his voice difficult to hear over the soft crackle of firelight.

"It obviously didn't take you long to get over it," Marco retorted, his voice uncharacteristically sharp.

Eren sat stone still, obviously having no idea how to defend Jean or even if he wanted to, but he did interject with, "If it makes you feel any better, he said your name."

Marco stared at him with unmasked shock before he passed his unopened can of Red Bull to Eld. "I would like to take watch from one of the humvees, Commander, if that's okay."

Erwin simply nodded.

Jean got up and ran after him, passing his can to Eren, who was beginning to look like he wanted to sink into the ground, his eyes low.

The resounding silence that followed the boy's departure was broken by Hanji. "I couldn't help but notice, Commander, that you did not drink to heterosexual sex or gay sex. Am I to understand that you're a virgin, then? Or are you simply filtering your responses in the presence of your subordinates?" They raised a wicked eyebrow.

“He’s too professional to party with us,” Levi said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Either that or he’s still trying to be the mysterious one.”

Mike snorted and elbowed Erwin. “It’s no fun if you’re not playing earnestly,” he said jokingly. He fully knew and understood Erwin’s reservations about cutting back with the rest of them, but if he was ever going to, now was the chance.

"We'll see," Erwin lied smoothly. There was no way in hell he was going to tell his subordinates whether he had ridden another man's dick or not. Some things just went beyond acceptable limits.

“Never have I ever smoked a cigarette,” Krista said, her eyes on Levi, who glared back and took a gulp of the taurine based monstrosity in his hand. He immediately turned and looked to Auruo.

“You fucked up,” he said as Auruo tossed back his can.

Erwin actually drank to that one as well, and Hanji, who must have believed in trying everything once for the sake of their curiosity.

“Never have I ever done hardcore drugs,” Connie said.

“Okay, what constitutes hardcore, though?” Sasha asked.

“Weed doesn't count, so you’re fine.”

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Levi was the only person to drink.

“What’s your poison?” Nanaba asked him at the same time Hanji gasped, leaning over Erwin to look at him with wide eyes.

“Levi! That is terrible for your neurons!” But Levi answered neither of them, or even acknowledged that they had spoken at all.

“How about this one--never have I ever eaten chocolate cake,” Gunther said with a grin. The company groaned in unison as everyone but Gunther drank. Before they got the chance to ask him why on earth he had never eaten chocolate cake, he explained, “I’m allergic to chocolate.”

“Proof that there is no god,” Nanaba thought it was necessary to tell him.

“It’s impossible based on our current knowledge of the universe to prove or disprove the existence of a higher power,” Hanji said. “And it will likely be a while yet. Science has suffered a major blow in the past couple of months.”

Ymir just pulled a piece of Halloween chocolate from her pocket and dug in.

The game carried on for a while longer, completing the circle and rounding it again. A couple of the players had to open second drinks, and Levi was on his third, citing the fact that everyone else was “pussying out” and taking “fucking baby sips” as the reason rather than the fact that he drank to almost everything that wasn't sexual.  Hanji, too, was opening their third, though they were rather behind Levi and seemed to be impressed about it. As a result of this, the company started keeping a close eye on the small man, waiting to see what he didn’t drink to, laughing raucously when he did drink. They started relaying whether Levi drank or not through the radios to Marco and Jean and it became a challenge--see who could get Levi to drink.

“Never have I ever killed an animal myself with the intention of eating it,” Hanji said.

Eren and Sasha drank to that one, but Sasha seemed a little twitchy when they all looked at her in surprise. Apparently it wasn't common knowledge that Sasha could hunt. “What? I grew up in the South. Lots of people hunt in the South.”

“When she’s angry, her accent comes out. It’s really cute,” Connie reported, nudging Sasha as she turned a little pink in the firelight and started sputtering something about not having an accent and what are you talking about Connie.

“You should never be ashamed of your heritage,” Levi said after he swallowed his own sip. “It’s a part of you. You should be proud.”

Sasha glanced over at him with wide eyes, surprised that he had addressed her, much less to say something friendly. “Oh. Thanks.”

“Alright, this is getting too sugary for me,” Ymir drawled, peering at Levi with an obviously predatory look on her face. She fully intended to either make him not drink or force him to admit to some really incriminating things. “Never have I ever been in a car chase.”

He drank. Copiously.

“Never have I ever been in a shootout!” Auruo challenged, and again, Levi drank.

“Jesus,” Petra gasped, “What did you do for a living?”

“Not this,” Levi replied. “Never have I ever fired at another human being under anyone’s orders.”

There was some confusion there among the lower ranks. “Do dead ones count?” Connie asked, eying his can skeptically. Most of the older soldiers there, though, didn’t have to ask. Erwin tipped his own can back grimly. Either way, he qualified.

“Never have I ever been arrested,” he said.

Ymir and Nanaba both drank, then raised their cans to each other across the circle. Levi drank as well.

Mike eyed Levi again, determined to join Ymir’s incrimination bandwagon. “Never have I ever robbed a bank.” Levi, again, drank. The circle was beginning to get shifty. They were all eying Levi at this point with clear uncertainty, uncomfortable by the fact that they had no idea if he meant it or not.

“I call bullshit,” Ymir stated frankly around a bite of chocolate bar. “There’s no way you’ve done half the things you drank to. You’re just one of those assholes who tries to top everybody else. See watch. Never have I ever been personally responsible for sinking the Titanic.” She raised her chin in a challenge.

Levi did not move at first, but at last he cracked something of a smile, as though he had been caught in the act of something. He drank. “It’s been eighty-four years,” he croaked after the bitter liquid had made its journey down his throat, “and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was…” He looked off into the distance wistfully.

Hanji quickly caught on and started humming My Heart Will Go On as the circle laughed, their faces relaxing once more with the levity reestablished.

“Never have I ever cried over any part of Titanic,” Hanji cackled, peering at Levi expectantly.

Levi did not drink, however Mike took a sizeable swig of his own. Levi very slowly reached out and took his hand.

"I'll never let go ..."

“You’d better let go,” Nanaba snapped, hurling one of their empty cans at Levi’s head as the group dissolved into helpless hysterics. In the chaos, Eren and Armin also snuck a quick sip, looking at each other nervously like they were afraid someone might catch them at it.

Levi deflected the can with the hand that had been holding Mike's, and when he moved it from his face he was smiling. Erwin caught sight of it from the corner of his eye and actually turned his head in surprise to get a better look at the expression.

“Told you,” Hanji shouted enigmatically over the ruckus, drawing Erwin’s attention back to the doctor, who was looking far too pleased with themselves. He had the nastiest feeling that something interesting had been discussed and he had been left out of it.

Levi met Hanji's eyes briefly before they turned to Erwin. He looked away quickly and attempted to get rid of the smile, though it didn't disappear completely for another minute or so.

“I told him it makes him look almost approachable,” Hanji covered for them both, nudging Erwin in the arm.

“Almost,” Erwin agreed.

“Never have I ever had actual surgery,” Sasha said next. “Wisdom teeth don’t count.”

“Ooooh, that’s a good one,” Hanji said, but they didn’t drink. A couple of the group did, and were subsequently asked to tell the others what unfortunate body part had been worked on. Erwin had apparently had a couple of bullets removed and a knife wound that had required them to surgically repair some of his insides, and Levi claimed to have fallen on a pipe and had to get that fixed up, but the others were fairly tame.

“Never have I ever …” Connie started, thinking hard. They had run out of some of the more obvious options. “Um … I don’t have any wicked scars. I demand stories from those who drink!” he declared.

More than half of the company drank to it, though many brushed off the stories, dismissing their scars as ordinary things, such as Sasha getting stabbed with a pencil.

Eren rolled up his pants to reveal where a deep gash had healed on his shin. “My dad and I were out hunting when I was little. I tripped over a root and fell into a ravine.”

“Wow,” Eld said, though he rolled his sleeve up to show a marking on his own wrist. “I was pulling brownies out of the oven, and my younger sister came tearing around the corner into the kitchen and shoved me into the hot pan.”

They looked at Levi expectantly, though he was already sitting up straight. He worked his sweater and shirt up to reveal a patch of discolored skin on his lower abdomen, almost around his side. He paused before he began his story. “I, uh … I was swimming with some family and I was attacked by a Japanese man-o-war.” There were a couple of sympathy noises passed around the circle. “That fucker grabbed onto me and I swear it was there for a solid three minutes before we managed to get it off. Apparently I passed out.”

"BULLSHIIIIT!" Ymir crowed.

"Sorry, Levi, but I have to agree," Hanji added with a laugh. "It's definitely a chemical burn of some kind but if it had been nematocysts from a jellyfish the scar would be made up of long thread-like strands."

Levi looked at them all again. “Alright. It’s a lye burn,” he said finally, disappointed that his quick lie could not have been believable, too. “I got a call from a friend one night. She’d killed some asshole and needed to get rid of him, so we chopped him up and carried him off. I burned myself while we were covering him up.”

The circle was dead silent.

After a moment, Ymir asked, "Bullshit?"

Levi smirked and nodded. “Bullshit. Really is a lye burn, though.”

"What the hell were you playing with lye for?" Nanaba asked him.

“Melting bodies down,” Levi replied insistently. “Who’s next?”

"That's me," Armin spoke up with a small laugh. "Never have I ever been kissed."

A couple of people actually booed at him, despite Mikasa's dangerous scowl.

"Come on," Ymir snorted, taking a swig of her drink. "Who hasn't been kissed apart from the dweeb?"

“That’s the point, right?” Armin replied. “Trying to get everyone else to drink?”

While nearly the entire circle drank, Levi and Armin sat still, looking at each other quietly. Slowly, as the others paid up and sat back to wait for Levi to do the same, it started dawning on people that it wasn't that his can was empty. He just wasn't drinking.

"Now that is bullshit," Nanaba spoke up. "We definitely have a troll in our midst."

“Honest to God,” Levi replied, his right hand raised. “I’ve never had the time for shit like that, really. Some have tried and all they got was a black eye.”

“Well, you have plenty of time now,” Mike replied. “You and Armin could kiss and rectify the problem.”

A strong and loud “no” sounded from not only Levi and Armin, but a couple of the other soldiers as well.

“Levi's been getting awfully close to Hanji,” Eren observed. “I think they should kiss him.”

“And Armin?” Krista asked, but Armin was already shaking his head.

"It's not a problem," Mikasa said simply, her hand reaching over to rest on Armin's knee. "It doesn't need to be rectified unless Armin wants it to be."

By mutual agreement, the group turned its efforts towards Hanji, who was much less frightening than Mikasa was, trying to get them to kiss Levi for science.

"I don't see what scientific purpose that would serve," they protested, but the group wasn't having it.

Levi turned to Mikasa then. “How come you’re going to defend Coconut Head and not white-knight for the rest of the non-romantics?” he asked accusingly.

“Armin is still young and has plenty of time to choose his first kiss. You, on the other hand, are getting old, so you’d better take what you can get,” Mikasa replied, her expression challenging him to question her again. Levi’s eyes narrowed in an equally threatening glare.

"Your eggs'll dry up," Ymir said dully.

"I don't think I would like to kiss anyone for a while. Not so soon after Moblit." Hanji shut them down so casually and matter of factly that it took a second for their meaning to sink in. Erwin turned his head to look at them, but found their face neutral. He hadn't any idea that Hanji and Moblit had been a couple. They didn't let the mood deter them, though, from a perfect opportunity, allowing a sly smile to turn the corners of their mouth as they suggested, "Perhaps it should be the Commander. He's responsible for Levi, after all."

Levi whirled around to glare at Hanji. He opened his mouth, but his protest was quickly interrupted by cheers of encouragement and goading remarks from those surrounding the bonfire.

"They don't mean any harm," Erwin said smoothly. "I believe that in this case I just became their primary target, anyway. Who doesn't want to see their Commander behaving in a human manner? But it's unprofessional, and we will be moving on now."

The company moaned pitifully, but complied, returning to the game with a deeply disappointed air.

"It's hard to top Armin’s," Mikasa said, thinking. "Hmm. Never have I ever eaten Ben & Jerry's brand ice cream …"

 

 

When they finished that game they moved tirelessly along to another. Erwin didn't bother trying to stop them, knowing they were more hopped up on caffeine than a bunch of kids in a soda factory. He was feeling the effects of his own drinks as well, his heart trying to race in his chest, his fingers wanting to quiver. He ensured that the others traded off the watch but otherwise left them alone to drop off as they saw fit. Slowly, they dwindled, along with the fire, which was embers by the time Sasha and Connie teetered off to bed snickering about something, barely bright enough to see by. Erwin prodded it back to life a little with the toe of his boot, relocating a chunk of charred wood that had collapsed over the feeble flame. It perked up immediately, but the effect was small.

Levi watched him from the swingset, swinging just enough to try and wear out his now seemingly endless stream of energy. He was clinging to the chains so hard that they dug into his hands and blistered his fingers and palms. He considered helping Erwin with the fire, but he decided he was more than content simply to watch him work over it. He slowed his swinging nearly to a stop, the tips of his boots grazing the dirt underneath him and keeping him planted firmly. He thought, perhaps, to mention to Erwin that he was not staying awake because of some plot to kill him this time, but because he could almost smell colors and he was afraid that if he closed his eyes for too long, he might see God, but he ultimately decided to keep his mouth shut.

"So how did you really get the lye burn?" Erwin asked him, nudging another piece of wood into the tiny flames.

Levi paused, even in his slow swaying, though he finally started again. “I was making soap,” he replied.

"You didn't want to go to the store and buy some?"

“Nope,” Levi answered, though he did not elaborate.

"Did you ever make it again after that?" There was a touch of humor in his tone, like he thought Levi's baffling need to make real lye soap was a little bit crazy.

“I did, and I was a hell of a lot more careful,” Levi replied, picking up on Erwin’s amusement.

Erwin went to join him on the adjacent swing, but didn't say anything more when he got there. He was the kind of man who could sit in silence without experiencing a strong need to fill it.

Levi, too, was silent for a while, and managed even to sit still for a few seconds before he began slowly swinging again. “You really ought to put on one of these ugly hats,” he said. “They’re warm.”

"I'd rather lose my ears," Erwin replied honestly.

“Really?” Levi asked, reaching up to put a hand on his toque. “I think they’re charming.” Despite his words, he slid the hat off of his head and held it in his lap, looking down at it quizzically.

"Perhaps if I wasn't on duty." He was hyper aware of how every little impression mattered, how he couldn't afford to be anything to his subordinates right now but something consistent and reliable. Charming as they were, a ridiculous hat did not project steadfast reliability.

Levi shook his head slowly. “Your professionalism is stifling, you know that?” he asked, turning to look at Erwin then. Perhaps it was the way the earlier conversation had gone that set his mind wandering, but he couldn’t seem to stop his eyes from making their way to the Commander’s lips. They lingered there only for a second before they snapped back up to Erwin’s eyes. Eye contact was something he rarely shied from, but he found it increasingly more challenging with Erwin. “If anyone understands, it’s me, but you’re letting it get in the way of your health. There’s no way that uniform is keeping you warm enough.”

"I feel alright," Erwin promised slowly, tracking the direction of Levi's gaze and coming to an interesting conclusion. "Do you wish I'd been less professional when Hanji suggested I kiss you?"

"Huh?" Levi's brows drew together as the question sunk in. "Do you wish that you had?" he countered.

"No," Erwin said honestly. "Not right then."

"Not right then ...?"

"Not in front of my subordinates," Erwin clarified, watching Levi's face with interest. "It would have crossed a line."

"You say that as though you would want to under other circumstances," Levi replied, watching Erwin equally as closely. He turned away and started swinging gently again. Something in the air between them was making him anxious, though he could possibly blame it on all of the caffeine and sugar working its way through his body.

"Perhaps, if the idea intrigued you," Erwin said, certain that he wasn't misreading the way Levi's eyes lingered just a little too long on his lips, the curiosity evident in them. "If you happened to be wondering what it would be like to kiss someone, I wouldn't be opposed."

Levi was quiet for a second and never once looked back at Erwin. "Mikasa was right. I'm getting old."

Erwin laughed, low and quiet. "Mikasa is barely twenty. To her, thirty must seem ancient. Don't decide based on anything she said."

Levi smiled, too, but shrugged it off. "Your company is a real cast of characters."

"I hand-picked them," Erwin said, proud of them despite their idiosyncrasies.

"That's embarrassing."

"I didn't have much to choose from," Erwin joked. "All kidding aside, I'd have likely chosen them anyway. They've handled themselves remarkably well out here, and I couldn't have asked for better."

"I'm shocked they've gotten so far, from what I've seen," Levi admitted in a low voice. "I imagine it's a combination of armored vehicles, firearms, and your professional leadership."

“You’ve seen a lot of goofing off, that’s true, but when the shit hits and I need them there, they’re ready.”

"I believe that." Levi continued swinging, unsure of what else to say. He continued to blame the stifling atmosphere on the caffeine, refusing to acknowledge anything else.

Erwin allowed silence to settle, though he didn’t really make much use of the swing. He simply rocked from his heels to his toes, listening to the guys on watch talking tiredly over the radio, slowly crashing from the energy drinks they’d consumed.

Levi glanced at Erwin again out of the corner of his eye before he looked out at the empty playground, where the fire was still trying to burn itself out. After a moment, he blew out a sigh. "Everyone's gone to bed. Are you still claiming professionalism?"

Erwin, too, looked out at the playground, towards the dark mass of soft, huddled bodies where everyone had ended up accumulating. He stood slowly, reaching to offer Levi a hand up as well.

Levi snorted and stood, but did not take Erwin's hand. "Is this your way of giving up and saying 'go to bed'?" Their proximity, though, spoke to some different intention, the way Erwin did not step back to give Levi more space when he rose, how his hands came to rest lightly on the outsides of the smaller man’s elbows.

“I won’t behave unprofessionally,” Erwin agreed, a touch of humor in his voice. “So I thought we might step out of the firelight.” He nodded towards the fire, which was still bright enough to make their position unmistakable if one of the soldiers on watch happened to look their way.

Levi looked from Erwin to the fire and back again and finally nodded. "If you insist," he replied.

The corners of Erwin’s mouth turned up at Levi’s approach, the way he asked without having to ask, the barely detectable tension in him the only thing that belied his perfect composure. Erwin drew back out of the small circle of firelight, towards the hulking mass of the playground equipment where their silhouettes would be lost among the shadows there, allowing his hands to drop. He wouldn’t pull Levi anywhere. If he wanted this he’d have to walk towards it without guidance.

To even Levi's surprise, that was precisely what he did. He followed Erwin just out of the light and found his hand reaching out for him, though he let it fall back to his side.

“Go ahead,” Erwin encouraged, his eyes on that hand, interested in what it had been that Levi was going to do.

Levi scowled at him and, rather than reaching for his hand or his arm, he snatched the front of Erwin's uniform and pulled him close. He paused again, drinking in the handsome face and bright eyes before he closed the distance between them and crashed his lips almost violently against Erwin's.

Erwin jumped a little under the onslaught, his hands instinctively jumping to Levi’s head as if to stop him. Once they found Levi’s undercut, however, they paused, momentarily distracted by the texture beneath his fingers.

Still, it wasn’t exactly a kiss--more like a head on collision--and Erwin pushed forward just a little to create the space he needed to pull back. “Hold still for a second,” he said, steadying the man’s head between his palms and leaning back down to meet his lips again. He wasn’t exactly gentle, but he wasn’t harsh either, the pressure of his mouth against Levi’s firm, but controlled. He focused his attention on Levi’s bottom lip first, swiping at it quickly with the tip of his tongue and applying the tiniest amount of suction there.

Levi drew in a sharp breath through his nose as he stood there, stiff and unsure of what to do, but when he allowed himself to relax against Erwin, it felt nothing but natural. He uncurled his fingers and released the front of Erwin’s uniform, reaching up instead to rest his hands on the taller man’s shoulders as he tilted his head. Levi had known little intimacy in his life, and none romantic. He remembered once kissing Isabel’s forehead when she was younger, he remembered Farlan taking his hand to comfort him, but the softness of Erwin’s lips was entirely foreign, the way he held Levi’s face in his hands completely alien, and despite that it was a comfort, and with that comfort came confidence. He kissed Erwin back, gently, learning quickly that the brush of a tongue was more powerful than sheer force. He didn’t try to overpower Erwin, but rather responded to him, learned from him.

And Erwin was a patient teacher, altering an angle to make it more comfortable or tightening his fingers just a little on the few occasions that Levi’s actions were a little too painful. They set up a simplistic system of wordless communication, quiet hums of approval the only sound that needed to pass between them. Erwin let one of his hands drop, circling under Levi’s arm and around his slender back to pull their bodies together while Levi’s hands found their way to Erwin’s hair.

Levi wasn't sure exactly when the kiss had grown more heated, but he was suddenly aware of the feeling of cool metal against his back. He didn’t think he’d been pushed, so maybe he'd backed into it himself. To his surprise, despite being pinned between Erwin and playground equipment, never once did he feel trapped. He found that he liked it, and he only clung to Erwin harder, moaning quietly into the kiss.

Erwin drew in a small breath, his surprise evident in the way he paused, his mouth stilling on Levi’s. That first, brutal kiss, the way he crushed their lips together like it was a power struggle, had lead Erwin to expect that Levi would want to control things. Had that been the case, he wouldn’t have minded, though something about the sudden, unexpected shift, the appreciation the other man found in surrendering, sent the first hot shock of arousal down his spine. He pushed into Levi, following the direction of his hands and, struck by sudden inspiration, reached for Levi’s wrists, gathering them together in one of his palms and pulling them up over the shorter man’s head. How had that playground equipment gotten there? He didn’t recall stepping forward, or Levi pulling him that far back, but it was convenient, he thought, pinning Levi’s wrists in place.

Levi only struggled minutely, as though testing the strength of Erwin's hand on his wrists. He stopped squirming, seemingly satisfied, and relaxed against Erwin again. The heat pooling in him was only a little concerning, only minutely startling, surely something easily willed away when he decided he gave a damn.

The small struggle jostled their lips apart and Erwin used the opportunity to pull back and look at Levi properly, finding himself wishing he could see the other man better. “Comfortable?” he teased, though there was an honest question in there somewhere.

Levi looked at him with hooded eyes, taking longer than usual to understand what was surely perfect English. Finally, he shifted his hands again. "Too comfortable," he replied, meeting Erwin's question with a challenge.

“I see,” Erwin murmured, trying not to smile. “We’ll see what we can do about that, then.” With his free hand he took Levi by the chin and tilted the smaller man’s face back up to the angle he needed, then claimed his lips again, a little less gently. There was still no harshness there, only the fervor of passion and the way it stripped away everything slow and cautious in Erwin’s touch. He was settling into Levi, realizing that he would not spook him, that despite the complete unfamiliarity of the situation, Levi was obviously going to throw himself head-first into it. That knowledge did something delicious to the pit of Erwin’s stomach, and he leaned more of his weight into the other man, confident now that Levi could take it.

"Fuck," Levi breathed against Erwin's lips. He shifted and struggled, though not to break free. Frustrating as being bound was, it was a sweet frustration, a superficial one born of being unable to take a lead he didn't want anyways. He thanked god for the darkness that hid the blush stinging his cheeks, burning his ears, but it couldn't hide everything. Not the way his body seemed to respond to Erwin all its own, shuddering beneath him.

It took more willpower than Erwin would have thought possible to pull away from Levi right then.

“If we continue,” he warned him roughly, “we’re going to end up doing much more than kiss.”

Levi paused briefly, staring up at Erwin. He certainly didn’t want to not continue, and he had nothing to hide or be afraid of. Finally, he snorted. “It’s like Mikasa said,” he replied. “I’m getting old and I have to take what I can get.”

“Three-tenths of a lifetime isn’t old,” Erwin countered. “You’d have plenty of opportunities on the Sina if you wanted them. But if you want this now, it doesn’t have to be a binding contract. I won’t hold you to anything that happens tonight.”

Levi's eyebrows drew together. “I don’t care if there are other opportunities. This is the one I want to take.”

If someone had asked him right then, Erwin would have had to admit to being surprised at that one as well. He had no idea Levi would want to be so serious, would want anything more than a brief tryst to satisfy his curiosity. From what little he’d seen of the other man, Erwin would never have guessed he’d be the committing kind, was admittedly still a little skeptical that would be the case no matter what he said, but he found it didn’t matter to him either way. He didn’t know Levi well enough to know whether or not he wanted something longer term, but he found he was willing to make the attempt so long as he didn’t get too attached to the idea that Levi might decide to stick around. He did know that he wanted what was developing there in the moment, whether or not they could build something from it, so he leaned back down and pressed a light, close-mouthed kiss to Levi’s lips.

Erwin did not ask Levi if he was sure. He simply adjusted the angle of his hips where he’d been holding them in a way that Levi would not feel the physical evidence of his arousal, turning and pressing slightly into the other man’s abdomen so there was no mistake.

Levi gasped against Erwin's lips but did not draw away. He didn't have much room to do so, but he pressed against Erwin encouragingly. The stiff fabric of the uniform pants had done little to hide his own growing erection and was doing even less now. The friction and the feeling of Erwin's obvious arousal elicited a moan from his throat, a deep, needy sound he didn't know he could make.

“Unfasten your pants,” Erwin instructed, his head still mostly in one piece and informing him urgently not to leave any evidence of this on their clothes. Extras were all back in the humvees, each of which was now occupied by one of his soldiers, and the waste of resources would be unforgivable. He let go of Levi’s wrists so the other man could comply, reaching for his own belt to do the same. “Don’t slide them down. If someone comes looking--” He figured Levi would understand where he was going with that.

Levi nodded in comprehension, reaching down to unbutton his own pants. He fumbled nervously with the zipper until he managed to pull it down as well. He left them clinging loosely to his hips as he turned to look over his shoulder at the unmoving lumps surrounding the dying embers. They weren't even shifting, and had it not been for the light on them, he wouldn't have even noticed them breathing.

"Jesus, this is a terrible idea," he breathed, though there wasn't a single hint of remorse in his voice.

"It isn't too late to stop," Erwin pointed out, though he didn't much expect Levi to take him up on it.  As he waited for an answer he dipped his head down and pressed languid, close-mouthed kisses to each corner of Levi's mouth, his passion clearly in check despite the hard erection cradled in his hand, aching to be pulled free of his underwear. There wouldn't be much he could do about their precome, but if they were free of their underwear he thought he could probably keep the worst of the mess off their clothing.

Levi shook his head, though, as he stood on his tiptoes to meet Erwin's kisses. He reached forward and tugged at Erwin's waistband before he slid it down just far enough to expose the other man, his kisses leaving Erwin's mouth to trail his jawline and neck.

“Mm.” Erwin lifted his chin for better access, using the time to free Levi from his undergarments as well, his hands feeling blindly for the elastic and carefully tugging the fabric out and over. Once freed, however, he pressed his hips forward into Levi’s, aligning their erections and pinning Levi back against the playground equipment. “Do you want your hands free?” Erwin asked him, his voice a little rough in Levi’s ear. He couldn’t resist leaning in as he finished the question and taking the hard cartilage into his mouth, sucking lightly.

"Ah," Levi sighed, his breath hot on Erwin's skin. "I don't know," he admitted, though while his hands were free, they were busy. His fingers dug into Erwin's hips, pinning him close although it was clear that it wasn't necessary.

“Let me know when you decide,” Erwin let go of his ear to say, rolling his hips into Levi’s and setting a slow rhythm. Since both of his hands were unoccupied, he allowed them to roam over the parts of Levi he could reach, sliding up his warm sides to explore the muscle he was pleasantly surprised to find there. Levi was small and slim, naturally leading Erwin to conclude that there wasn’t much muscle on him, but what he found was lithe and bulkless, contours subtle, but hard beneath his hands. With a small, pleased hum, he ground his hips a little more firmly into Levi.

With the distraction of Erwin’s touch, of the way he moved against Levi, so warm and sweet and delectable and absolutely perfect, Levi found he wasn’t in the state of mind to make a decision at all. His mind was too wrapped around Erwin’s warmth pressed against him, the feel of Erwin’s skin, his smell, sweaty and musky filling his nose. All around him, inside his head, teasing every one of his senses was Erwin Smith. It was infuriating and fascinating and frightening and he ground against Erwin in return, seeking more of something his rational mind told him he was getting too much of to begin with.

“Let me know when you’re close,” the commander murmured into Levi’s throat where his mouth had ended up, applying his lips and teeth and tongue gently to the skin there so as not to mark him up. He wasn’t so careful with Levi’s shoulder, where he pushed the neck of his shirt aside and latched on, nipping almost sharply at the hard ridge of his collarbone and then applying his tongue to the skin to soothe the tiny sting. His arms slid around the back of Levi, pushing into the seam where Levi ended and the metal behind him began and clenching the shorter man closer, curling his fingers into the hard muscles of his ass to get a better angle on his quickening thrusts.

Levi hummed his acknowledgement, leaning his head back and resting it on the surface behind him, his eyes closed. Although Erwin’s teeth came closer and closer to eliciting moans from him with every bite, he did a remarkable job of keeping quiet, even when Erwin’s hand on his ass caught him entirely off guard. He gasped and his own fingers dug even harder into Erwin’s hips, though he eased his grip quickly to allow Erwin more room to move and maneuver. He slid his hands under Erwin’s shirt then, taking his turn to admire the body he found beneath, though worship was the word that came to mind.

He had seen Erwin shirtless, though the darkness of the Falls allowed for little detail. He had felt Erwin’s chest, been curled against it in the tunnel, but his body had been so numb, and he so bitter that he hadn’t the chance to admire it as he could now. Unlike Levi, Erwin was bulky, a mass of trained muscle, smooth and hot and moving so deliciously against him. When Levi opened his mouth again, he whispered Erwin’s name like a prayer, and for an instant he regretted having done this now, in the dark in secret, where he couldn’t see Erwin and touch every inch of his skin, but the instant passed and he pacified himself with what he could touch, the lines he could trace with his fingertip as he swallowed hard, biting his lip to keep quiet against the perfect rhythm of Erwin’s hips.

Erwin reveled in the small changes in Levi's breathing, listening closely for them as his mouth worked over the man's shoulder, raising a line of bruises that only the two of them would ever know about. "Your self-control is remarkable," Erwin murmured almost distractedly into his skin. "I thought I'd be swallowing your moans by now." With Erwin's arms around the back of Levi and pinning them together at the abdomen, the smaller man was unable to meet Erwin's thrusts with his own, placing him at the mercy of Erwin's slowly building rhythm. Something about that feeling was strange, rutting sharply into a warm body that was pinned too closely to do much more than twitch against him. It felt hedonistic and primitive and he wondered if Levi appreciated it as much as he was beginning to. Erwin had never actually restrained any of his partners in quite this way, never had any particular interest in doing so, but the way it had affected Levi, how his body responded so readily to being subdued--that was something Erwin could find intoxicating.

As Levi’s hand found its way up to grab onto Erwin’s hair, a smirk pulled at his lips. “Then maybe,” he breathed, tugging lightly, “you’re overestimating yourself.” He pulled harder, forcing Erwin’s face up and into another kiss, capturing his lips with renewed intensity.

Erwin leaned into the kiss at first, humming his appreciation for this small assertion. When he pulled back, it was only to say, "Give yourself more credit." Then he was kissing Levi again, parting his lips to see what Levi would do with the invitation. He seemed unsure at first, freezing up again. He nipped at Erwin's lower lip, slid his tongue across it.

"Mm," the blonde encouraged him softly, not wanting to jostle his mouth free. He opened up to him a little farther, capturing Levi's tongue carefully between his teeth and drawing it into his mouth.

Levi drew in a sharp breath, startled, but followed Erwin's lead without hesitation. He slid his tongue past Erwin's teeth and took to exploring the other man's mouth, tracing his lips and sliding his tongue along Erwin's, which responded in kind, moving to fill the spaces that Levi left empty, following with his mouth and leading with his hips. He shifted one of his hands a little to the side, lining his middle finger up along the back seam of Levi's pants and tracing downwards, following the cleft of his ass through the rough uniform as far down as he could reach.

This time, Levi did moan into Erwin’s mouth, low and soft, stifled by their kiss. The hand in Erwin’s hair tightened its grip as his other reached around the small of Erwin’s back, and even Levi was unsure if it was to pull Erwin closer--an impossibility--or simply to hold him.

"Close?" Erwin asked, taking the sudden clinging as a sign that Levi was nearing his peak. Erwin shifted his hips, finding an angle that offered them both a little more pressure. The sound Levi had made, soft as it was, sent a cascade of electricity down Erwin's spine and he drew his fingers slowly along the same track, moving them back towards his waistline. Levi rewarded the motion by arching into him.

“Yeah,” he breathed. He took his hand from Erwin’s hair to reach down and wrap his fingers around the both of them. They weren’t quite long enough, but it would have to do, he thought as he slid his palm down their shafts, slick already with precum. He leaned up to kiss Erwin again, and although it was heated, it was brief. “Talk to me,” he said finally, his face blushing brighter than before, either with the heat of impending climax or with embarrassment.

Erwin's stomach flipped right over at that, dropping heavily into his abdomen and glowing there like an ember. "Alright," he agreed without missing a beat, buying himself a moment to think about what he was going to say by sealing their lips together for another heated kiss. "Should I tell you how charming I find your crass tongue?" He asked once they resurfaced. "Or should I simply tell you what I would do with it if you gave me half the chance?"

Levi’s laugh was husky. “Both.”

"Or maybe," Erwin suggested, drawing it out as though he was still thinking it over. He covered Levi's hand with his own larger one and squeezed lightly, thrusting into their combined grip. "Maybe I'll just ask you to come for me. All over my cock."

“And you say I’m crass,” Levi breathed. “I thought you were a professional.”

"I'm supposed to be," Erwin admitted, though he didn't slow his pace any.

Levi’s nails dug into the small of Erwin’s back. “Fuck,” he sighed, shuddering beneath Erwin. He leaned his head forward to rest on Erwin’s shoulder, hiding his face. “Erwin,” he continued, his voice quiet, but controlled, “I’m coming.” He barely finished the word before stars exploded behind his eyelids and his body tensed and shook, his toes curling in his boots as he finally spilled himself in their hands.

Erwin's hand shot up just in time to cover the head of Levi's erection, catching the hot fluid in his palm before it could get onto either man's clothing. It was a combination of factors that sent Erwin over the edge himself, Levi spurting into his palm, thrusting into the slick, sudden heat of the come that slid back down their shafts, the way Levi shuddered against him as he tried to remain silent. He caught his own mess in the same manner, riding out his own orgasm with a small indrawn breath.

For a few seconds he stayed where he was, leaning against Levi. Then he carefully withdrew his hand, sliding up the both of them to collect the little bit that had spilled from his fingers, pulling it from between their bodies and holding it safely away from their clothing. "So," he murmured, pausing to press his lips to Levi's jaw. "How was your first kiss?"

Levi was quiet, still leaning against Erwin and shivering. It was difficult to wrap his mind around the question, and even more difficult to think of a coherent answer. "Eh," he finally settled for. He didn't have the energy for much more.

Erwin huffed a small laugh, strangely affected by Levi's weak attempt at humor. It might have even been a little endearment, though that could just as easily have been the afterglow. "Seems like it was passable." He touched his lips to Levi's again.

Levi hummed in affirmation and draped his arms lazily around Erwin's hips.

And there was another surprise. "It's funny about people, isn't it?" He asked, running his clean hand slowly over Levi's back. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a cuddler."

“Don’t get used to it,” Levi replied, burying his face in the crook of Erwin’s neck. Now that he was calming down, he was beginning to get cold and was shivering slightly for reasons other than arousal, and he savored Erwin’s warmth and his touch.

"Only if you won't," the commander teased, though he seemed content in their current position.

Levi sighed against him and finally straightened. He pulled his arms away from Erwin and looked at his hands with a slight scowl. “Gross,” he grumbled, looking around for a water fountain. The water may not be suitable to drink, but it would be enough to get the fluids off of his and Erwin’s hands. There was one mounted on the wall of the small clubhouse, and Levi pulled his underwear and pants back up, buttoning them quickly despite his shivering. “What would Granny say?” he sighed with a disapproving shake of his head, helping Erwin with his own pants before he slipped from under him.

“She’d be glad we’re no longer trying to kill each other, I think.”

"You're still a bad ol' puddy tat," Levi snorted as he headed for the fountain, the amused commander right behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  


	18. Interlewd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mike is mostly just a huge cockblock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, we want to thank you all for your continued patience with this story. This chapter has certainly been a long time coming. 
> 
> These past few weeks we have been re-reading the story start to finish with the intention of picking up our original timeline. As we were reading, however, we both realized that we've grown quite a bit as writers and this story isn't developing the way we would like it to, nor is the planned timeline what we want it to be. In the next couple of chapters, we intend to wrap things up with an ending that offers more closure than the one we left when we went on hiatus. We haven't abandoned the possibility of rewriting this story at some point in time, but for now we hope this ending will suffice. There will be twenty chapters in total and you should see the next two fairly soon. Thanks so much for reading!

They woke to a sky the color of used dish water and a cold mess of spitting rain that warned of an ugly day ahead. “It looks like we’re about to get an ocean dropped over us,” Erwin commented, striding up to take his breakfast ration from Nanaba, who was handing them out by the rear bumper of humvee two. “Do you have an ark in the that crate?”

Nanaba glanced grimly at the sky. “Afraid not. I'm fresh out of watercraft.”

Mike came after Erwin, eagerly accepting his freeze-dried eggs and bacon. “Pretty sure the humvees don’t float, either, if Niagara told us anything,” he joked before he looked up at the commander. “Your little friend is still knocked out cold. Sleeping like a rock.”

“I tried waking him,” Armin piped up behind them. “I don’t know if he crashed that hard from the energy drinks, but he seems to be resting alarmingly well.”

“He must have needed it,” Erwin said vaguely. “Just leave him for now. There's nothing left that needs doing. Oh and Mike?” He waited for the other man to look up before continuing. “I can guarantee you that the humvees do not float. I can tell you what the bottom of Niagara River looks like, though.” Mike chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Levi grumbled as he sidled up behind them for his breakfast. 

“Nothing,” Mike answered. “Welcome back to the world of the living. Sleep well?” 

Levi only grunted in response as he took the ration that Nanaba handed to him. He looked up as he passed Erwin and caught his eye only for a second before he wandered over to where Petra, Auruo, Eld, and Gunther were eating their own breakfasts already. 

“Ain't he sweet in the morning,” Nanaba cooed. 

Erwin shook his head. “Not at all. Mike, what's our ETA looking like?”

“Hour and a half, I’d say. Most everything is packed up already. I thought it might be best to let everyone enjoy their breakfast outside though, weather be damned.”

“Hm,” Erwin mused, looking around at the group. Connie and Sasha were eating breakfast on a tire swing, though he wasn't entirely sure how they were doing it. Connie was in the middle of the swing, his knees bent so he could twist the chain to wind it up. Then he'd let them go and they'd be a whirlwind of giggling limbs and somehow, through the whole experience they never lost the MREs in their hands. It was fascinating. “Perhaps we ought to stop them before they start bleeding into their brains.”

Mike snorted. “I say let them have their fun. They’re probably still working off the garbage we drank last night. Besides, I think this is the most any of us have cut loose since we left.” 

“Actually,” Nanaba spoke up, “they're still drinking last night’s garbage. Just so you know.”

Erwin could really only shake his head about that. “Where is Hanji?”

“They're safe,” Nanaba said. “Probably dissecting rocks or something.” The captain paused, though. “Humvee three, last I saw.”

Erwin nodded. “Finish up our preparations here, then. I want to have a look at the road.”

Mike nodded and made his way over to where Ymir and Krista were finishing up their breakfasts on the plastic slide to ask about the condition of the humvees when she’d checked them the night before. 

Erwin frowned at the hatch someone had carelessly left open. He'd have to remind the company that just because it hadn't rained on them yet didn't mean that leaving the hatch yawning open wouldn't summon the rain gods sooner or later. He took the binoculars from the humvee’s dash and stood to point them down the street. 

“See anything interesting?” Levi climbed into the humvee behind Erwin, but he didn’t stand in the hatch with him. 

“A couple of Romeros. None of the strange ones that I can tell. They're all moving too directionlessly.” He paused. “That's always struck me as eerie. There is nothing in nature that moves like that--like they have no purpose.”

“They’ve got a purpose, alright.”  There was a brief, heavy silence between them before he spoke again. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did,” Erwin assured him. “Very well.” He paused from the binoculars to look down at Levi. “And you?”

“I'd say like the dead, but apparently even they aren't sleeping these days.”

“No, I don't imagine that comparison is accurate anymore.” He looked down into Levi's face, his own expression perfectly neutral. “It doesn't sound like you have any regrets.”

“Actually, I was going to suggest we do it again sometime,” Levi replied casually.

The commander's lips twitched. “Then I suppose we had better see how discreet we can be.” He reached down and offered his hand to the other man, his eyes dark with mischief or arousal or both. “I don't think I've taught you how to conduct a perimeter watch.”

Levi hesitated, cautious or suspicious, but ultimately he reached up and took Erwin’s hand. He stood up in the hatch with him. “It always seemed pretty straightforward to me.”

“To the contrary,” Erwin passed the binoculars to Levi, stepping around so the shorter man had an unobstructed view of their surroundings. “It's a very complicated protocol and requires a great deal of study to master.” He reached down and took Levi lightly by the hips, guiding them back into Erwin’s body without feeling insistent. “But you strike me as a natural.”

“Is that so?” Levi asked. He took the binoculars and brought them to his eyes as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the top of the humvee, pressing his hips back even farther. 

“Yes, I believe it could be. I'm curious to know. The optics adjust along the left side. Magnification is at the far end and visual correction is there by your eyes.” The man's hands slid around to Levi’s front, giving him plenty of time to guess what the objective was before his fingers moved to fold around the the fly of his pants. “It feels like this training appeals to you.”

“It does,” Levi replied, voice unwavering. “It seems like professionalism appeals less to you this morning, though.” He stood straight again but made no move to distance himself from Erwin.

“Perhaps I misspoke,” Erwin answered, pressing forward with his hips as he rubbed Levi slowly through his jeans. “So long as we do not endanger the company and they continue to see me as a sexless, passionless provider of security and tactics, what's actually happening beneath the hatch is, well, beneath the hatch. I can rely on you to be very attentive to our safety, I'm certain.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Levi hummed. He took the binoculars from his face and studied them for a second before adjusting the magnification. He raised them again and pressed back into him slightly. “If you really feel like pushing it,” he continued, “I have two perfectly functional thighs.”

“A moment, please.” Erwin ducked into the humvee and hit the locks on the door. He was back almost immediately, intently scanning their surroundings and finding them acceptable both on the Romero front and a little closer to home. “I think I'll take you up on that offer,” he said, allowing his hand to slip beneath Levi's shirt to smooth idly over his hard stomach. “But I expect you to pay attention to our side of the perimeter.”

“Mm,” Levi hummed. “I think I've lived out here alone long enough to know how to multitask, commander. I've got my eye on it.” He shifted just enough that his hips would rub against Erwin. “And you'd better hurry. It won't be long before your company is ready to move out.”

“Some very good points.” Erwin's fingers ventured lower, deftly releasing the button at the front of Levi's pants and loosening the fabric so he could coax it down over the swell of the other man's ass. “I look forward to thoroughly exploring you at a later date.” 

Levi snorted at that. “When you figure out how to sneak off for long enough, you let me know.” He gripped the binoculars a little harder then, determined not to move his hands from them. 

“You’ll be the first witness to that miracle,” Erwin assured him. He moved to free himself from his own pants, though he didn't let the clothing fall past his hips. He simply parted his fly and pressed forward to align his cock along the cleft of Levi's ass. “Perhaps, when we’ve made it back, I'll do that exploring on my cabin’s balcony. I have a deck chair I'd like to spread you over.” 

“If we both make it to that boat, you can spread me over any piece of furniture you like,” Levi promised, voice barely above a whisper. He shifted again, this time more insistently. 

“I'll remember that.” Erwin reached down to adjust himself, capturing a droplet of precome before it was lost to gravity and smearing it down like it would really do much to smooth the way for him. The friction was a little uncomfortable, but once Erwin started moving he found himself sliding mostly through his foreskin so it wasn't the driest sex he'd ever had. He bent his knees a fraction and angled himself upwards, doing his best to nudge the head of his cock into the back of Levi's balls when he thrust experimentally, earning a low, quiet moan from Levi. 

When he finally gave in and removed one hand from the binoculars, he made it seem like the most casual thing in the world, still holding the device in one hand and looking forward as he wrapped his fingers around himself. Although Erwin’s pace was slow and infuriating, Levi matched it closely with his hand. 

“Don't let yourself come, Levi,” the commander told him. His voice had deepened, his hands free to drift over Levi’s body. One of them settled over the other man’s fingers, squeezing lightly. “I have other plans for this.”

Try as he might, Levi couldn't hide the shiver that shot up his spine. “I see,” he said, voice strained, and returned his hand to the binoculars. 

“Your self control is promising,” Erwin murmured, wrapping his own fingers around Levi to stroke him slowly as he picked up his own pace. Levi was correct in saying they didn't have a lot of time. “How's our perimeter look?”

“Still clear,” Levi murmured, his grip tight, jaw tense. “How about the company?”

“No one is rushing back,” Erwin assured him. In fact, they appeared to be taking advantage of every free second they had. “I can't blame them. It feels pretty safe here for now.” He passed his thumb over the slippery head of Levi's cock, humming appreciatively at the wetness he found there. With a stifled moan Levi bucked his hips into Erwin's hand. He pressed back against him and tightened his thighs around Erwin’s own erection. 

“I don't blame them either. Looks like all of you needed the downtime.”

“So did you, sleeping beauty.” There was a smile in his voice with that answer. “I didn't wear you out, did I?” He made the decision just then not to stave off the first hot trickle of pleasure that flitted through his abdomen. He'd reached the point where he could let the sensations snowball or distance them and let them build more slowly. It was a shame they didn't have the time or the privacy for slow, but as he felt the heat simmer inside of him he thought there was something about the semi-public nature of these encounters that appealed to an unexpected kinky side of himself that probably ought to be investigated. 

“No,” Levi breathed, sliding up into Erwin’s hand again. “But you relaxed me enough to sleep better than I have in months.” He rocked his hips ever so slightly back and forth. “I look forward to the day that you do wear me out.”

“Nn,” Erwin answered. It was quiet and involuntary, just the barest utterance of sound. “Good. I'm not going to try holding on.”

“Wait,” Levi said abruptly. He stepped away, hesitant, but he placed the binoculars in Erwin’s hand and ducked back under the hatch. The rise on which they were standing was not the most comfortable on his knees, but he settled there all the same. He took Erwin’s cock in his hands and brought his mouth close, breathed on it as he cast a quick look at the commander before he closed his lips over the head. He wasted no time in teasing Erwin, immediately taking in more and more until he hit the back of his throat, sliding back again, rinse and repeat. 

“Ah,” Erwin mused, tensing with the effort of holding his hips still. “I’ll have to come up with other plans for you.” He had to pause when his voice hung in his throat, though he gritted his teeth and pressed the binoculars to his eyes to begin the first careful sweep of the road.

Levi pulled back slowly, his lips making a soft popping noise when they separated from Erwin. “You’ve had to change your plans a lot because of me,” he murmured. “I think I’m making a habit of it.” 

Erwin sighed, allowing his hips to twitch towards Levi’s mouth--or perhaps they did it on their own. “I haven’t regretted it, yet,” he assured the other man. 

“Good,” Levi replied with a smirk. He took Erwin back into his mouth and set a steadier, faster pace than before. 

“There,” Erwin said steadily. It was the kind of deliberate control that he’d once seen in drunk people before the world ended and all of the drunks were eaten by Romeros. “Perfect.” 

Levi hummed around him as he pushed Erwin’s cock further down his throat. He reached up and took Erwin’s balls in his hand, squeezing them in time with the movement of his mouth. 

“Commander?” The voice from outside sent chills up Levi’s spine and he froze, but Jean couldn’t see him through the tinted glass. Not unless he put his face right up to it. “I want to apologize for last night.”

“Last night?” Erwin asked, nudging Levi in warning like he didn't already know. 

“Well, yeah,” Jean replied bashfully. “Last night and at Niagara.”

Levi looked from the window up to Erwin, whose eyes were on his subordinate. With a wicked glint in his eye, he leaned forward and dragged the tip of his tongue over the head of Erwin’s cock.

“I see.” Erwin reached down and nudged at Levi's head, trying to alert him to the danger. “I appreciate that. All I ask is that you continue to bear in mind the nature of this trip and the dangers involved. It's important that we all continue to have a healthy working relationship in spite of our personal differences.” Levi moved away for only a second before he leaned forward again, slowly to keep from attracting Jean’s attention, and took Erwin into his mouth.

“Right,” Jean sighed. “We’ll work it out, sir.”

“Excellent,” the commander said, his voice breaking ever so slightly on the word. He cleared his throat professionally, thinking that Jean would wander off the way he came. 

But he kept standing there. 

“Sir.” Jean peeked up at him awkwardly, fidgeting behind his back. “Have you ever--I mean--”

Levi reached up and grabbed Erwin’s hips, using them to shove Erwin’s cock as far as it could fit down his throat. The commander had to reach up to abruptly grab the edge of the hatch, his fingers clenching around the metal though his face barely twitched. Levi began moving his head again slowly, experimentally, watching Jean from the window to be sure he hadn't seen anything yet. 

“Never mind,” Jean decided at last. “I’ll try to talk to the others.” He backed away reluctantly like there was still something he wanted to say, but Erwin did not encourage him, reaching down to twist his fingers into Levi's hair and deliver a light tug. 

“You're going to kill me,” the commander noted, thrusting slightly down the other man's throat. 

Caught off guard, Levi choked around Erwin but it only took him a second to get his bearings again.

“I’m not trying to kill you,” he hummed when he pulled back again. “Just test you a little.”

“I see. How am I doing?”

“About as well as I expected.” He returned his lips to the tip of Erwin’s cock. 

“Mm. That could either be a compliment or an insult. Any suggestions on which way I should take it?” 

“A compliment,” Levi replied. “A high one.”

“Excellent,” Erwin breathed. He had his eye on a couple of Romeros as they toddled up the lonely street, but they hadn't spotted all the activity happening farther up the hill. “Pass me the rifle please.”

Levi sighed but reached around Erwin’s legs and grabbed the gun that had been left on the high rise. He passed it up and waited, impatient but unwilling to hinder Erwin’s marksmanship. 

Erwin set the binoculars aside and readied the weapon for use, checking the sights and making sure the silencer was tight before removing the safety. He didn't have the stand, so he tucked the butt into his shoulder and lined up his shot. “I'll only shoot if they turn,” he told Levi, his finger steady where it rested over the trigger guard. 

“Are you trying to give me the go-ahead?” Levi asked, eyebrow raised. “I'm not sure how I feel about giving a blow job to a man holding a readied weapon.” That wasn't true. Levi knew exactly how he felt about it. But that didn't make it responsible, nonetheless.

Erwin smiled faintly--just a touch of amusement hovering around his mouth. “I assure you I haven't mistaken you for a Romero. Even if you have been swallowing me.” 

Levi snorted but didn't answer. He took Erwin into his mouth again, instantly falling into a steady back-and-forth rhythm. Out of his peripheral vision he watched the window, cautious. 

“I won't draw this out, if you don't mind,” Erwin warned him, pressing the rifle into his shoulder so he could reach down and brush his hand over Levi's head. “I may have to shoot these Romeros.”

The smaller man pulled away again though he continued stroking Erwin in his hand. “It's not the Romeros I'm worried about,” he replied gruffly before his mouth took over again. 

“I assure you that I am a trained--nn--professional.” Erwin let his hips twitch just slightly, resisting the slick warmth of Levi's mouth harder than he'd resisted anything in the past several weeks. “I'm close.” Levi rested his hands again on the curve of Erwin’s hips and maintained his speed as though he hadn’t heard the commander at all. “Levi, are you su--” Erwin trailed off in a low moan, and before he had an opportunity to hear the other man confirm his certainty, he was tensing, rolling over an edge that had snuck up on him. 

Levi hadn’t intended to swallow; it wasn’t something he’d necessarily thought about, but it was occurring to him now, and very quickly, and he didn’t really see another choice. Not without making a mess. He was mostly successful aside from a few droplets drizzling from the corners of his mouth, but when Erwin finished he leaned back and wiped them away with the back of his sleeve. 

“Your face from this angle is certainly something to remember,” Levi commented, breathless. 

Erwin blinked, but his surprise was pleasant. “Come back up here so I can thank you properly.” 

Up ahead, the Romeros carried on about their business, dragging restlessly around the corner of an auto body shop. Erwin waited a moment longer before he lowered the rifle. In that moment Levi took the time to zip and button the commander’s pants for him before he stood and joined him in the hatch again. He opened his mouth to speak, but something behind Erwin caught his gaze and the words died in his mouth as Mike came to the side of the humvee. 

The man didn’t speak immediately. He cast Levi an odd, suspicious look and sniffed conspicuously before he turned his eyes back to Erwin. 

“Everyone’s finished with breakfast and ready to roll out. Whenever you are.” There was a certain implication there that he was polite enough to not expound on. 

Erwin’s pause lasted a beat too long, but nothing in his tone confirmed Mike’s unspoken insinuations as he glanced down at him from the roof. “Instruct the company to pack it in. We move in five.”

“Roger.” Mike turned on his heel and headed back then to relay the orders. 

Levi didn’t say a word, but the hard line of his lips was a little more pressed than usual, and his stare a little more pointed. He waited just long enough to be sure that Erwin had caught the expression before he ducked back into the humvee, zipped his own pants and hopped out of the door. The commander suppressed a sympathetic wince as his eyes returned to the perimeter. He had a feeling this wouldn’t be their last brush with unfortunate timing before they reached the Sina.

He made a mental note to be very nice to Levi that day.

**Author's Note:**

> Erwin wants you to leave kudos and comments *｡✧٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶✧｡*


End file.
